Maschera di Ferro
by Lady Seraph
Summary: Temporarily on hold until March 2018. Rewritten fic will be published on April or May 2018. Avengers watch Anthony Edward Stark's life.
1. Aftermath

**Maschera di Ferro**

 **Summary:** Tony died at the end of Civil War. Everyone was heartbroken, however, maybe, just maybe, whatever the Enchantress want to show them, it could prevent the war possibly brewing near and unite them once again. They are the Avengers, and now they would be united when the war might happen. Especially uniting them to Tony Stark.

 **Note** : Please read the Author's Note and Disclaimer below.

 **Mid-AU**

* * *

 **Tony Stark was never one of surprises. Yet Rhodes could exactly tell you when he saw his best friend died in front of him.**

He could remember Tony's sullen and pale face as he slowly panted for air. He could remember seeing his best friend being choked and suffocated to death before a bullet shot him through the chest, where his arc reactor laid just beneath it. He could remember the Captain's face so dark and shocked when he saw the aftermath of the war he started. Rhodes took almost all his courage just not to sneer in the face of the Captain. He remembered Steve snarling at Tony, saying, " _Was it worth it?!"_ before Tony's death and he knew just what Tony would exactly say, breathing out his last words,

" **It never was worth it, Cap. No one is the victor of this war** ," And Rhodey knew that Tony made the sacrifice play again, just to avoid the war, and this time, his sacrifice play completed clearly. Rhodey could see in the corner of his eye that Natasha was stunned and shocked, screaming out Tony's name as tears silently dropped down her eyes. That was the first time they ever saw her show emotion _ever_ ;

Peter, even though he was new in the group, was crying out loudly while quickly running towards where Tony's body fell, blood gushing out so much out of his body, his bruises and scars becoming more visible. Rhodes knew that Peter had some kind of connection and relationship with Tony that showed obviously as Rhodes came to acknowledged that Peter is like a son to Tony, and vise versa. Peter quickly took out his mask and hugged Tony's body as like he would never let it go.

Steve stood silently, looking horrified and even though he kept an impassive face outside, many would clearly see that he was hiding his sadness, he was Tony's 'almost lover' after all. He was clinging to Bucky tightly, as though he would fall if let go. Bucky, on the other hand, maintained a tensed yet stiff face, face showing nothing of emotion, yet behind those eyes, Natasha could see a panicked look on his face while he muttered in Russian.

Pepper almost collapsed when she heard what happened, crying uncontrollably, her eyes turning swollen and red; Bruce surprisingly appeared when he heard the news of Tony's death, having a little green tantrum and he was obviously angry and unsettled, his anger mainly directed towards the Captain and his comrades.

Thor appeared also, looking obviously upset and distressed, booming about how his shield-brothers fought to death, yet he immediately turned serious, looking mournful, explaining that Tony's death would be remembered to everyone. Harley, sobbing loudly visited them and hit the Captain and Wanda with an electric shock device that Tony has given him. Captain looked extremely surprised while Wanda was furious, almost hitting the boy had not Vision stopped her with his glare, his eyes shone with forlorn and sadness, cradling the young Harley in his arms;

Rhodes, went back from his day dreaming, stood beside Natasha and Pepper, who both nodded at him with a look. His eyes narrowed into a glare before sighing out,

"We should get this over with,"

However, before all of them could even settle in peace, discussing things that mattered and needed to be discussed properly, a flash of bright light covered all of them, blinding them temporarily, before they vanished from the area.

* * *

Meanwhile, Loki sat in his dirty cell, looking bored and tired. He was humming quietly, placing his handcuffed hands in the wooden table inside his cell when he noticed a small white light in the corner of his eye. He turned his head and looked suspiciously towards the small white light that is seeming to lure him into his death trap. He rolled his eyes and smirked, as if one thing like this could ever trick him. Nothing could trick him, he is the God of Mischief after all.

Yet, he was curious of the light could ever do to him. Could this free him from this rotten cell or trap him forever? He scowled when he thought about him again. But this light could bring him the revenge he was hoping for, revenge towards the Other and to him. He don't care about foolish things already and he wouldn't even care if Thor begged for him to come back;

His eyes gleamed with mirth, he heard about the Mechanic's death, surely, it was so sad that happened to him, he was the only mortal that made Loki curious about someone ever and he was the only one that interested him after all. He shook those thoughts away and he narrowed his sharp eyes before touching the white light. This light would never hurt him anyway, just one touch, and he'll see if anything will happen to him.

He became startled and surprised, the small light became brighter and bigger before it blinded him temporarily and engulfed him, disappearing and bringing Loki with it. The guards outside the cell immediately fainted when they caught a whisk of the light, engulfing them into darkness. Other guards immediately ran towards the cell and what they saw made them panicked and surprised.

Loki disappeared.

* * *

"What the hell?" Rhodes glared into thin air when a wave of dizziness suddenly wasged over him. Peter appeared next to him in a bright flash of light, looking surprised and nervous, waves of anxiousness and curiosity clearly covered the young lad.

"Uh, Rhodey?" Peter asked quietly while searching the room for any potential danger or traps that might have been laid throughout the room. Rhodes turned to him and he could see Peter wearing nothing but a plain red shirt, black jeans, and shoes that were obviously given to him by Tony. _Tony, Tony, Tony._ Rhodes shook those thoughts away before it become a fully overgrown anxiety attack.

Soon, shadows of people started appearing and a cacophony of noise was quickly starting to hurt his ears. Natasha looked surprised and tensed, and she stiffened quietly when she saw Bruce standing beside her; Natasha glared quickly when she saw Wanda and them appearing too.

"What the?"

"Where the fuck are we?!"

"Why are we even here with them?!" Clint shouted as he sneered, looking ready to attack them but one single deathly look from Natasha caused him to settle for a glare and a scowl instead, looking away as he huffed. Another flash appeared and Clint immediately took off, attacking the person when he stopped suddenly, looking paralyzed and stunned, screaming out profanities— Thor on the other hand, looked surprised and aghast, seeing his very own brother in front of him was very surprising, since after all, Loki was caged into a cell, he couldn't be the one who transported them here, right?

Loki looked startled himself before settling to a blank face, rolling his eyes when he saw his brother staring at him shocked. He smirked, "Looking surprised, Thor? I wonder why," Loki hummed mockingly while Clint glared at him, wanting to attack him but he couldn't. Suddenly, a golden barrier appeared and trapped Loki from the others.

When Steve saw Loki, he immediately sprang up into action, looking for his shield when he realized something. Everyone of them looked like normal civilians, and the others started to notice it too. Their weapons vanished and they looked like harmless civilians. Wanda stiffened when she saw that her powers weren't working and they could see that Vision couldn't use his powers also.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Starting a fight, aren't we? I thought you settled for peace, hmmm." A woman in mid-20's suddenly appeared, she clearly had the air of authority around her and she looked like one of the Enchantresses of Asgard. Simultaneously, almost all of them tensed into a fighting position before she smiled. The woman was dressed in golden robes and she looked powerful enough that they might cower in fear had she not smiled before them.

"Who are you?" Wilson spat in curiosity and suspicion. The woman hummed in appreciation in return and replied,

"I am Almira, the Enchantress of Ember. I am one of those who sent all of you here, in a special place called Limbo, if you may ask, I brought all of you here to at least prevent or avoid the war upcoming by showing you these special films that were kept hidden by us. These films will be shown to you to at least unite all of you together and show mercy towards the one you called friend once, Anthony Edward Stark," As she finished, a stunned silence greeted her but it slowly turned into confusion and utter surprise.

"Why are we even watching these?! Tony's dead! And he killed my wife!" Clint muttered ominously while Pepper glared hardly at him and Rhodey was taking almost all of his strength and courage just not to pack a punch towards him.

"He didn't kill your wife! And what makes you think that your wife's dead already, Barton?" Bruce replied, a tint of green covering up his eyes. A lot looked surprised when he spoke up, defending his friend and science-bro.

"What are you talking about? I saw my wife dead right in front of my own eyes, Banner!"

"Bruce is correct, Barton. Just because you saw the mangled body of Laura, you expected that that was her? No one could identify a mangled and destroyed body easily, Clint," Pepper defended Bruce, speaking up coldly and Clint looked shocked before the sound of a small clap echoed throughout the room. Maria Hill, Helen, Fury, Coulson, Laura, Darcy, Jane—

"Laura!" Clint gasped out in surprise, before he felt himself being able to move again and ran towards her. She tearfully looked at him in happiness and hugged him tightly while he pecked her lips quickly, before dragging her towards the bunch of seats that suddenly appeared over them.

"Lady Jane!" Thor spoke in surprise and excitement, before reaching out towards her, hugging her tightly as the young woman blushed, seeing everyone stare at them. Meanwhile, Darcy rolled her eyes and huffed out angrily, yet her eyes immediately sparkled when she saw the superheroes crowding her, looking amazed and excited.

Pietro appeared. Wanda tensed and stiffened, glaring at the woman before looking horrified. Pietro was here, Pietro, her dead brother, her twin brother.

"Pietro," Wanda stuttered and Pietro turned to look at her, he looked startled himself yet he settled for a small smile as tears dropped from Wanda's eyes, she immediately ran and hugged her brother tightly, as he mumbled comforting words to her. Everyone stared at Almira, who smiled as she explained what happened,

"Pietro, as you've known indeed died, but the Lords from above gave him a second chance. He was given a second chance as to simply unite everyone again and to try prevent the war coming, _from the monster_ ," Almira told them while Wanda looked at her tearfully, uttering a silent Thank you that was only heard by her. She clapped her hands again and food immediately covered almost half the room. The lights went out and a humongous screen appeared.

"Now that's everything done, I see that all of you are ready to watch now, am I right?" A few private looks were shared throughout all of them, yet it also divided them into two, the supposedly Team Cap and now the Team Iron Man. It split them into two and glares were directed throughout each other and Steve looked nervous before everyone nodded. Loki sat far away from them, looking bored yet something gleamed in his eye. Maybe this can amuse me, after all, Stark was once an interesting and amusing man.

"Wouldn't this invade the privacy of Stark's?" Maria Hill inquired, her eyes narrowing in suspicion and realization that what might show them might be incredibly humorous or painful.

"Yes, it would. But this was what he specifically told me. And nothing would change anyhow," Almira stated.

"Hmm." Pepper wondered in apprehension. She immediately scowled, what if this shows the start of Iron Man? She wouldn't dare, per say, because she still didn't trust what the others could do when they finally see his weakness and they might mock him for a failure,"

"I think it's better if we started now, don't we?" Loki snarked and Peter glared at him, along with Rhodes. He could very well remember Tony saying that it was Loki who pushed him from the tower. He would never forget that ever.

"I agree with Loki, for once." Natasha mumbled, crossing her arms over her shoulders while she straightened up, taking a seat beside Bruce, who looked nervous and pinched his nose nervously.

"Very well." Almira snapped her fingers before vanishing. She smiled mysteriously and flutter of butterflies covered her trace.

" _I just hope you know what you are doing might be dangerous at the same time, but I trust you enough to settle this deal with you alongside Ezekiel, Tony. I just hope that what you're thinking would bring unity and peace again_."

* * *

"So, Iron Man, huh?" Clint stated silently, staring right into the cover of the dvd case. After the appearance of Almira, some started talking before the film started. He and Natasha immediately reconcile, sharing a look, yet they know, it wouldn't be easy to forgive each other easily. With Natasha for lying to him and didn't say that Laura was still alive and with Clint for not knowing the wrong side of the war.

 _Are we still friends?_

 _Depends on how hard you hit me._

Steve coughed, catching their attention while he tensed as Bucky cling to his shoulder. "I guess we should start this now, we would never escape this room without finishing these films, anyways."

Bruce rubbed his eyes as he wiped his glasses with a small towel, "I agree with Steve for once. I just hope that this would not show what I am thinking," Bruce replied and Pepper nodded her head slowly in agreement, slowly coming to a realization of what those films could show them. Rhodes, also went silent as he snorted. Peter looked nervous as usual while the others looked impassive. Scott rubbed his chin in curiosity while Loki looked interested for once. The smirk in his face obviously showing his amusement and interest.

"Okay! Let's get this shit done once and for all!"

* * *

 _1891, 221B Baker Street_.

Meanwhile, in another reality, a man slowly woke up from darkness, rubbing his sore eyes. Looking warily around before speaking up a name,

"Watson?"

* * *

 **Author's Note and DISCLAIMER:**

 **There you go! Sigh, I know I'm a hopeless author. I apologize in advance for any mistakes I might have made and will soon (maybe) make. I was inspired to write this story by other 'Avengers-watch-the-movies fic' and maybe from my addiction to Iron Man and Robert Downey Jr, just like my obsession with Dylan O'Brien. And! There you go, a secret surprise maybe *wiggles eyebrows*. Who might this 'Watson' might be? Hmm. I'm giving a hint:** 'Jude Law' **and** 'I see two men. Two men. Brothers! Not in blood, but in bond.' **I'm sure hardcore fans would get that reference. Hehe. I also in advance would like to say that in this series (hopefully), only Iron Man films, the Avengers film, and maybe Age of Ultron would be viewed by the Avengers.**

 **However, maybe, if this story continues to get up, I might be adding some spices there and now. But, don't get your hopes up too high because I'm, admittedly, not one who does stories so much. I get too much authors-block now and then and it's hard for me to keep up with stories because I'm not well with story line-ups. However, if someone can give me the official script or like completed of a film they want to be viewed by the Avengers, send the link to me PM and I might try to make it within a story.**

 **Again, I fully apologize for the grammar mistakes I might and will make and the spellings, oh my god. I need a beta reader who is always active and can keep up with my laziness, haha. Just one hint, I might be doing an Avengers watch Teen Wolf if someone can give me the official script, yada yada, because I am a certified fan of Dylan and Teen Wolf and especially Stydia.**

 **Warning, though, this might be a polyamory between Bucky-Steve-Tony-Loki because I ship them so hard! Especially with Tony, so if you don't want it, don't read it. Simple as that. And I also apologize if I start another story without even finishing one, sigh. ? ﾟ**

 **One again, thank you in advance for reading this story. I accept any criticism as long as it won't take too far. I will try to fix up some of my mistakes and make this a better story. I'm sorry if this story is too cliché, I don't exactly have a way with words. I also deeply apologize if this story is too much fast paced; Thank You! ~**

 **Love, Shadow Sylpheria**


	2. The Man Behind the Iron Facade

**Maschera di Ferro**

 **02: The Man Behind the Iron Facade**

The screen flickered slightly and went to static silently, like those from the '40s films, Steve recalled. He glanced around with his firm eyes and saw that most looked bored while a few looked nervous - that being Pepper, Rhodes, Happy, and surprisingly, Natasha. He wondered why, and clenched his fist. Blinking his eyes quickly and tried to shake the thoughts about Tony. Unsurprisingly, he felt guilty for everything he'd done, but on the other hand, he also didn't. If they didn't stopped the Accords, Bucky will be in a rotting prison cell right now.

Suddenly, a loud music filled through the air and caused him to go back to reality. He glanced around and saw that the others looked surprised as well.

Pepper sighed, "Of course ACDC, nothing else." She said sufferingly, causing many to look at her in amusement.

"Of course Tony would start videos with Back in Black," Natasha muttered, though a small smile was in her face.

"Hey! I love that song!" Clint replied and looked affronted, and some looked shocked that he didn't cared for the war between the two sides and Pepper grinned. Clint and Natasha aren't best friends after all for nothing. Laura just smiled shyly and glanced between the two divided sides. The letters ' **Kunar Province, Afghanistan** ' suddenly appeared in the screen momentarily before if disappeared.

"Afghanistan? Why are there humvees in the middle of Afghanistan?" Bruce frowned, noticing the army men that were focused towards outside.

"Who are they taking with them, anyway?" Scott inquired confusedly, seeing the two army officials looking alert, focused, and nervous. Another young boy, obviously an army boy was sitting nervously, and a hand suddenly appeared holding a glass filled with alcohol. Tony finally appeared and he was wearing an expensive-looking business suit and a pair of sunglasses.

"Anthony?" Thor boomed, looking as confused as them. Why is Tony Stark even in the jeep? Rhodey suddenly grimaced and spoke up,

"I think I know when this happened," He shared a look with Pepper who also immediately scowled, Steve noticed.

"Hmm, interesting." Loki mumbled.

 **"I feel like you're driving me to a court-martial,"** _He told them._

"And... That's definitely Tony," Clint flailed dramatically, earning an eye roll from Natasha and a smack in the arm from his wife, causing him to 'Ow'.

 _The army men ignored him,_ (Wilson snickered) **"This is crazy. What did I do? I feel like you're going to pull over and snuff me. What, you're not allowed to talk?"** _He addressed the young soldier sitting next to him,_ **"Hey, Forrest."**

"He shouldn't be treating army officials like that," Steve told coldly, crossing his arms while Happy secretly scoffed at him. T'Challa looked interested for once and Loki once again looked bored. Humming silently, Bucky, on the other hand, stayed silent and sat the farthest from them.

 **"We can talk, sir,"** _the soldier told him._

 **"Oh I see, so it's personal?"** _Tony inquired, a smile dancing across his lips._

 _The soldier in the front, the one driving replied,_ **"No, you intimidate them,"**

"A female warrior! I have not seen one before, besides from Lady Natasha, Lady Maximoff, and Lady Hill!" Thor grinned, causing the others to grin infectiously then. Maria uttered a small thanks before turning around again, Natasha smirked at him, and it can be the definition of a smile to others who knew Natasha. Vision patted Wanda in the shoulder silently, who was sitting next besides Pietro, cuddling her, which was a rare sight for the others.

 **"Dear God, you're a woman."** _Tony told with curiosity and interest._

"Just because she's a woman doesn't mean they can't work with the military," Darcy scoffed, thinking, ' _Women are strong and powerful too! Hmph,_ '

 **"I honestly... I couldn't have called that. I mean, I'd apologize, but isn't that what we're going for here? I thought of you as a soldier first,"** _continued Tony._

 **"I'm an airman,"** _the woman sneakily replied._

"Aren't there many female warriors here in Midgard?" Thor inquired, looking as confused as a puppy. Loki hid a scowl, of course his stupid _brother_ wouldn't even know that.

"There are, honey, however, they don't get credit too much and they are easily overpowered by men," said Jane while the other females in the room grimaced, that would be true in a way, however, they don't know what a woman could do with words.

 **"Well, you have, actually, excellent bone structure, there."** _Tony grinned,_ **"I'm kind of having a hard time looking at you right now. Is that weird? C'mon, it's okay, laugh."**

"Nice save in there, Stark," Fury spoke up, and the others hid a snicker while a few didn't even bothered to be silent and chuckled.

 _The man sitting in the seat in front of him suddenly twisted his body to look at him,_ **"Sir, I have a question to ask."**

 **"Yes, please."** _Tony motioned him to continue._

 **"Is it true you went 12 for with last year's Maxim cover models?"** _questioned the man._

"All twelve of them?!" Sam gaped while Thor looked genuinely upset, how could his Friend Stark cheat on the beautiful Lady Pepper?

"This is before Pepper and they already broke up, thank you very much," Rhodes told them, much to the surprise of the other Avengers. They didn't knew Pepper already broke up with Tony, they seemed so mushy-mushy and lovey-dovey towards each other.

"Of course, whaddya think? That's Stark you're talking about, he wouldn't waste his time with only one cover model" Hill rolled her eyes and drawled, whose mouth continued widening into a jaw-dropping gape.

"So lucky," mumbled Scott while Peter blushed furiously, trying to shake the _dirty_ thoughts away.

"Woah," Pietro muttered quietly while his eyes widened and Wanda rolled her eyes, smacking the back of her brother's head softly, knowing what Pietro's obviously thinking. ' _Closet pervert_ ' Wanda thought and see that Vision visibly tensed, they could read each other's thoughts after all - Wanda with her magic, and Vision because of his Infinity gem.

 _Tony removed his glasses,_ **"That is an excellent question. Yes and no. March and I had a scheduling conflict, but fortunately, the Christmas cover was twins."**

"So~ Eleven of them only, Wilson," stated Natasha.

"Still, he's so lucky." Sam complained jealously. He would admit that he envied Tony for having so many sexy women around him, the other men, he noticed, also shared his same envy.

 **"Anything else, you're kidding me with the hand up, right?"** _Tony said incredulously at the soldier who indeed raised his hand like a 12 year old from a boy scout._

 **"Is it cool if I take a picture with you?"** _the soldier inquired excitedly._

 **"Yes, it's very cool."** _Tony accepted graciously and the soldier grinned and took out a camera from his pocket, handing it to the other soldier in the front._

"How kind of him," Bruce said while the others nodded in agreement.

"Well, he does kind once in a blue moon," Pepper chuckled and the others snickered at the obvious insult laced within her words.

 **"All right!"** _The other soldier said as he turned on the camera and pointed it in front of them while Forrest leaned in for a picture, holding up two fingers in a gesture that Steve knew as a 'peace' sign._

 **"I don't want to see this on your MySpace page,"** _said Tony._

Clint gaped, "Who uses MySpace now? Dear god, when is this actually?"

"From the datas I've gathered before, I would say this is approximately the year of 2008." Vision replied shortly.

"That explained why,"

 **"Please, no gang signs,"** _stated Tony and Forrest lowered his hand._

 **"No, throw it up, I'm kidding,"** _and Forrest immediately returned his hand again._

 **"Yeah, peace. I love peace. I'd be out of a job with peace."** _Tony uttered._

"Well, not now, hmm," Pepper silently said sadly as she folded her fingers, some looking at her momentarily with looks of pity their own.

 _Forrest immediately looked impatient,_ **"C'mon, hurry up. Just click it, don't change any settings."** _Before the other soldier could click the button, the humvee in front of them suddenly exploded. BANG!_

All of them immediately jump up over the loud noise, including Loki who was drawling earlier. Steve quickly turned to look over Bucky and saw his eyes changing, he swiftly jumped up and held Bucky by his shoulders.

"Bucky, you're not in Hydra, anymore. You hear me?! You're not the Winter Soldier, anymore! You're Bucky, you're my best friend!" Steve screamed desperately and Wilson immediately ran over to his side as Bucky struggled. Steve continued screaming at him until he finally calmed down, sweaty and looking panicked.

"What happened?" Bucky whispered, eyes wide with fear and panic while the others stiffened. Clint immediately hugged his wife who looked scared and afraid at the sudden change of atmosphere in the room.

"What the hell just happened?!" Scott cried out while Wanda almost shrieked, causing Pietro to hush her with comforting words.

"I agree with the Man of Ant! What sorcery is this?!" Thor boomed loudly, causing some to cover their ears at the loudness of his voice, Jane immediately hushed him while Darcy rolled her eyes at the god.

"Nothing. Nothing. Let's just get back to the movie, shall we?" Steve said, more like demanded, coldly though they could see slight terrified and anxiety covering his eyes. They didn't pushed him further though and agreed to just continue the movie.

Pepper looked anxious as her fingers twitched every now and then. She leaned over Rhodey who looked blank and whispered,

"I think this is what happened during the Afghanistan kidnapping,"

"I think so, too. If this is it, we better be ready for everything this might show us,"

"I guess the fun ended rather quickly,"

 _The woman driving the humvee suddenly slammed on the brakes and screaming something undistinguishable from all the noises,_ **"What's going on?!"** _cried Tony in alarm and confusion and pulled himself over as he fell from the impact earlier. Sounds of explosion and gun fire echoed all around._

"I agree with him! What the fuck is going on?!" Clint covered his ears as the noises from the speakers filled the room loudly.

 **"Contact left!"** _shrieked the woman, loading up her gun and positioned herself._

 _The woman opened her door and went out from the humvee, only to be shot down at once._

 _The soldier in the front seat told,_ **"Jimmy, stay with Stark!"** _and also went outside_

 **"Stay down!"** _Forrest bellowed loudly, shoving Tony quite harshly. It was only a few moments when the other soldier from the front seat also went down, causing Forrest to shout out, "Son of a Bitch!"_

 _He also loaded his gun and jumped outside._

 **"Wait, wait, wait, give me a gun!"** _Tony protested in panic and fear and Forrest slammed the door hardly._

 **"STAY HERE!"** _Forrest screamed before he too was shot. The other side of the jeep was full of bullet holes and blasted marks._

"What the HELL?!"

Vision, on the other hand, twitched nervously and he clenched his fists unconsciously, worried for his creator. Nervousness rolled over him while Wanda watched him warily.

' _This shouldn't happen to Tony! He shouldn't be the victim!_ '

 _Tony reeled back from trauma and horror and flung the door open and went out. He took off running. The other jeeps were bursting in flames and exploded, flames covering up the desert._

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Sam roared loudly as he looked nervously.

"He told you to stay there, Stark!" Natasha screamed impatiently while rubbing her head with her thumbs.

"Please, please, please." Pepper muttered in desperation quickly. Panic rolled over him in waves. The others looked afraid, scared, nervous, anxious and stunned at the same time. They were all thinking the same thing. Even Loki was surprised at the outcome and Peter was sobbing heavily as he clutched his hair tightly, muttering words everywhere.

' _Please let Tony be alive!_ '

 _Tony ducked and ran for cover. He hid behind a large boulder and took out his phone from his pocket. Flames, smoke, and toxic chemicals filled the air and was almost everywhere. Bombs were thrown out and guns were shooting everywhere, but no one could see where it came from because of the fogginess and smoke covering out the whole desert._

 _He started typing rapidly and tried calling from his phone._

"Who was he calling, by the way?" Hill inquired.

"From what I know, he was trying to call Obadiah," Rhodey answered shortly.

"Who is Obadiah?" Steve looked confused, and Natasha answered before Rhodey could reply.

"For sure, you will know him in this movie," said Natasha ominously and coldly.

 _A small beeping sound caught his attention and his eyes widened fractionally. A small rocket-shaped bomb dropped near him and he gasps, the label 'Stark Industries' on the side of the explosive and no doubt he knew it by hand, he was the one who designed it after all._

"Is that a bomb?!" T'Challa demanded and Pepper could only nod sadly. A few collective gasps of surprise covered the room and a few curses, mainly coming from Rhodes and Clint, were heard around.

 _Tony's eyes widened and scattered off immediately to avoid the explosion, however, the thing went off and blasted in front of him, causing him to blast and hurl backward._

Vision stiffened and he looked as still as a statue. Peter immediately cried loudly again, seeing his father-like model in a state like that would never ever leave his mind.

Even Steve and Bucky tensed like a statue when they saw it. They couldn't explain it, but they felt as if something was taken from them, and they couldn't discover why. Even Loki's eyes widened a few inches, Thor was roaring loudly and Natasha continued screaming.

 _Tony groaned and unbuttoned his shirt. His bulletproof vest was destroyed and he could see blood stain forming rather quickly._

"Was he hit?" Scott asked curiously with a tint of anxiousness.

"Of course, what do you think? The arc reactor was just for decoration? Shrapnel straight to the heart, and the arc reactor keeps it from shredding his heart to ribbons. Well, now it _is_ shredded." Rhodey answered mockingly with a shrug and Steve, Bucky, and the a few paled. They didn't knew that was the reason for the arc reactor in his chest. They'd thought it was just for powering up the suit.

"How, I-I didn't know," Steve muttered so quietly in actual shock that no one heard him. Meanwhile, Pietro looked disgusted and a look of horror spread throughout his face. Wanda literally jolted. This couldn't have happened to Stark, this couldn't, he should be the suspect, not the victim and a look of realization covered her face.

 _Tony once again groaned and the screen went white for a second._

Clint and Natasha shared a look and they knew it wasn't finished yet.

 _A voice was suddenly heard speaking, a different language, a language they couldn't understand. Then the white light suddenly turned into yellow until a figure appeared, a brown sack was suddenly pulled from his face, from Tony's face and his eyes are glassy and he looked as tired as dead. He blinked quickly as a ray of sunlight suddenly washed over him. He looked around and noticed a circle of people covering him with rays of different types of guns, especially machine guns._

Vision twitched quite obviously and Rhodey groaned, couldn't just everyone stop?

Thor snarled in anger quite obviously alongside Natasha, Clint, Sam, Scott, and Peter.

 _A few feet away from Tony, two men were standing and one was holding a camera, obviously recording the scene. Then the view began to expand and around five men were covering Tony. The camera zooms out again and showed a bandage covering Tony's chest soaked with blood, while a man spoke a different language._

 _The screen flashes and the words IRON MAN appeared before it flashed out in black._

"What the _fuck_ just happened?!"

* * *

 **Hey, I'm sorry if the story is too fast-paced and some characters are out of their character. I deeply apologize, I clearly quickly did this in about 1 hour because I'm about to sleep, yawn so I didn't much get to edit the story. It's actually already midnight in the Philippines so I need rest already. Anyways, reviews are always accepted and constructive criticism is always welcome, as long as it doesn't hurt other people or become personal. Thank you in advance for reading.**

 **Love, Shadow Sylpheria.**


	3. The Genius

**Maschera di Ferro**

 **03: The Genius**

"What the hell?!" When the screen paused, almost everyone started muttering and shouting, curses were flying everywhere and Loki simply cocked his head in genuine surprise and interest. Pepper's eyes were filled with tears when they finished watching the first scene.

Steve was filled with dread, guilt, and anger at the same time. He couldn't exactly comprehend what is happening right now. That couldn't be Tony, right? He tried denying, yet he knew in his mind and in his heart that that was Tony. "God," Steve grimaced slightly, he couldn't imagine that that happened to Tony. His heart was beating so quick that he was surprised that he wasn't having a heart attack right now.

"Are you okay, punk?" Bucky whispered worriedly, and so quietly that Steve almost hadn't heard him. He turned to look at him and showed a small smile; Everyone came to a stop when the screen flickered again and a voice was heard throughout the penthouse-like room.

 **"Visionary. Genius."** _a deep resonating voice echoed throughout the room. Magazines were shown and pictures of young Tony and his father were seen._

The loud voice over the speakers almost let Wanda let out a startled yelp because one of the speakers was beside her and she could hear everything, thank you very much.

 **"American patriot,"** _the voice continued._

"As if," Steve scoffed and crossed his arms again causing Bruce to fiercely glare at him, Loki quirked an eyebrow at that, though, a smirk growing in his face.

 **"Even from an early age, the son of legendary weapons developer Howard Stark quickly stole the spotlight with his brilliant and unique mind. At age four, he built his first circuit board,"**

"Woah!" Jane gaped and Thor looked on confusedly, seeing him like that, Bruce almost chuckled and replied,

"Maybe in Asgard years, the 4 years old here in Earth equals to maybe around 200 years old?" Thor widened his eyes in awe and even Loki's eyebrows raised higher. An amazing feat for someone so young. _'Maybe he might interest me, after all.'_ Loki thought grudgingly.

 **"At age six, his first engine,"**

Clint joined the gaping club and Bucky secretly raised his head in fascination. Bruce's eyes widened significantly and Rhodes snorted, "All of you have forgotten what Tony was before the Iron Man suit. Didn't he told you? Genius, after all,"

 **"And at seventeen, he graduated Summa Cum Laude from MIT,"**

"I didn't know that he achieved so many feats at a young age," Helen muttered, her eyes showing awe. Pepper quipped, "He graduated Summa Cum Laude, he majored in in Physics and electrical engineering and it was so easy for him, he received Master's degree in both. Then he received multiple PhDs in physics, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering,"

She hid a smirk at the dazed look from everyone, even Bruce had a fascinated look on him.

"So, why doesn't everyone call him Doctor?" Maria asked and Pepper shrugged, "People are too ignorant nowadays. They just saw Iron Man, not the genius who created the Iron Man suit and handled the Stark Industries at the same time,"

And finally, they came to a realization, Stark is a certified genius after all, not just a superhero, but a genius and businessman, rather.

 **"Then the passing of a titan."** _A newspaper was shown with the highlights of Howard Stark's death in a supposedly car crash along with his wife, Maria Collins Carbonell Stark._

"Howard died in a car crash?" Steve asked, seemingly surprised as if he hadn't known. He and Bucky shared a look together and Bucky's eyes widened significantly when he finally remembered. He remembered the look on Howard's face when he died. And the car crash wasn't the cause of it, the cause of it was because of him, the Winter Soldier. A look of horror drifted through his face when he remembered killing Howard, Maria, and Edwin Jarvis.

He swallowed loudly in panic and fled the room, shutting the door behind him, Steve immediately stood up while the others quirked an eyebrow and asked questions. Steve ignored them and ran quickly to follow Bucky but a hand stopped him. He glared at the one who dared stopped him and calmed down when he saw it was Wilson.

"Let him stay alone, for a while, Steve, he might need some time alone thinking." Scott added nervously and Steve glanced through the door and sighed, rubbing his head with his thumbs, sitting down and Wilson grinned.

 **"Howard Stark's lifelong friend and ally, Obadiah Stane, steps in to help fill the gap left by the legendary founder, until at age 21, the prodigal son returns and is anointed the new CEO of the Stark Industries.** "

"They make it sound so big and important," Clint scoffed while Natasha frowned and rolled her eyes, "It _is_ , Clint. I hate to admit, but they are the biggest and richest company that _supplied_ weapons, after all. "

"Is this the Obadiah you are speaking about?" Thor boomed loudly, frowning as he sensed a kind of danger around the man. "I don't like him!" He declared and the others seem to nod in agreement. Vision frowned secretly, he knew who that man was, being Jarvis after all and he knew that man was up to no good. Wanda also agreed, though silently, she shuddered. The look from the man immediately screamed danger, she knew and she shared a look with her brother who seemed to think the same thing.

"You wouldn't like him after you would learn what he did to Tony," Rhodes huffed and they tried to not ask questions, they could see it was a sore object for him but they were just given a hint to what his true intentions are.

 **"With the keys to the kingdom, Tony ushers in a new era for his father's legacy, creating smarter weapons, advanced robots, satellite targeting. Today, Tony Stark has changed the face of the weapons industry by ensuring freedom and protecting America and her interests around the globe,"** _the camera zoomed out, showing many people sitting in a large auditorium, clapping._

"Wow!" Darcy told in delight and almost a few chucked at the almost maniacal-crazy look in her eye. She almost looked like a mad scientist, there.

 **"As liaison to Stark Industries,"** _said on-screen Colonel Rhodes into the microphone._ **"I've had the unique privilege of serving with a real patriot. He is my friend and he is my great mentor. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to present this year's Apogee Award to Mr. Tony Stark."**

"Whoa, that's kinda huge of an award," Helen exclaimed, her glasses almost falling of her face. Alongside with her, Jane and Darcy were nodding enthusiastically with awe shining bright in their eyes.

"Twenty bucks that Tony's not gonna be there," Natasha betted and stared towards Wilson with a mysterious mischievous glint in her eye. Sam didn't notice though and nodded, Pepper and Rhodes secretly pitied him. They knew Tony weren't going to be there. They experienced it after all.

 **"Tony?"** _Rhodey asked, a smile clearly fake on his face._

"Wilson," Natasha smirked at him, the definition of a boastful smile to her. Her hand was out and in a waiting motion, Sam grudgingly handed her twenty bucks and she smirked defiantly. Pietro was hiding a snort and Wanda seemingly looked amused.

"I can't believe him," Steve huffed and settled for a scowl instead. Of course, the usual Tony attitude, why was he even surprised?

 _Rhodey looked around slightly and glanced at Obadiah who shook his head before rising from his seat,_ **"Thank you, Colonel."**

 **"Thanks for the save."** _Rhodey muttered silently before handing over the award and stepping back._

 **"This is , ah, beautiful - thank you -, thank you all very much, this is wonderful,"** _He kept glancing over the award with a dazed look on his face._

"He's hiding a very well poker face, huh," T'Challa sarcastically said, causing many chuckles to erupt. The man was right, Obadiah looked so constipated and so fake.

 **"Well, I'm not Tony Stark,"** _said Stane, and the audience laughed gleefully._ _"But if I were Tony, I would tell you how honored I am, and, ahh, what a joy to receive this prestigious award,"_

"No, he won't," Maria said bluntly, familiar with the man's ways, and Pepper nodded her head towards her. Suddenly, everyone startled when the door suddenly opens and Bucky entered the room silently, Steve immediately came towards him and everyone went back to their original places when they saw the two having a silent moment.

 **"Tony, you know, the best thing about Tony is also the worst thing. He's always working,"**

Natasha hid a mischievous smirk and Clint scowled, he knew that look. That look that fooled many, Clint shot her a playful glare and Natasha simply arched a perfect eyebrow. Her hands were suddenly twirling a pen - who knows where it even came from - even though it wasn't a weapon, all of them knew what she can do with just a pen. She can injure people with just a single pen.

"Well, he's sure about—," Bruce stopped when he saw the next scene, drooping slightly with a sigh.

 _The scene abruptly changed and Tony was shown in a casino throwing a dice on a gambling table, smirking as his sunglasses covered his eyes as he watched where they fell._

 **"Work it! Come on!"** _Tony exclaimed and turned around to flirt with one of the women only to be distracted by the next one, who slipped her hands on his shoulders and over his chest as he turned to her._

 **"We should just... stay, till morning,"** _he said with a smirk playing across his lips._

"Che, working? Maybe working into getting one of the girls," Scott scoffed and Thor smirked. Hidden behind them, a smirk was growing into Loki's lips, his eyes were mischievously glinting with mirth.

 **"You are unbelievable."**

 **"Oh, no! Did they rope you into this?"** _Tony sighed, throwing the dice again_.

 **"Nobody roped me into anything!"** _said onscreen Rhodey._ **"But they told me if I presented you with an award, you'd be deeply honored."**

 **"Of course I'd be deeply honored, and it's you, and it's great, so when do we do it?"** _Tony responds, turning back to gaze over a woman to his right and almost completely ignoring the man._

 **"It's right here. Here you go."** _The man glares as he hand over the award, Tony weighed it in his hand before replying back,_

 **"There it is. That was easy... I'm so sorry."** _He apologizes again, although the other man is still upset._

 **"Yeah it's okay,"** _the man sighs sufferingly, rolling his eyes._

Half of the population were confused, and then realized that Rhodey also sarcastically replied back. Rhodey huffed and snorted, looking indignant, "As if I would be a fool to not realize he was sarcastically saying that," He grumbled and Pepper looked at him pitifully, she knew exactly that feeling.

 **"Wow, would you look at that? That's something else. I don't have any of those floating around."** _Tony exclaimed, barely giving the trophy a glance before handing it over the woman in a black dress that caught his attention a while ago, before he leaned over to grab all of his chips from the table._

 **"Give me a hand, will you? Give me a little something-something,"** _Tony smirks, holding up his hand of dice and the woman on his right blows seductively and gazed at him with lust-filled eyes._

Clint whistles loudly and Laura smacked him in the head, causing him to rub his head in pain. Sam snickered at him, causing him to turn his attention to the man.

 _He turned around to Rhodey, saying,_ **"Okay, you too,"**

 **"I don't blow on a man's dice,"** _Rhodey growls, pushing his hand away causing the dice to fall out of Tony's hand and he looked expectantly towards the area where the dice flew over._

"You don't, huh?" Sam smirked, so much innuendos laced in his words. Rhodey narrowed his eyes and looked disgruntled while Scott high-fived him, snickering loudly and even Natasha let a smirk grow in her face a little. Clint decided to stay silent because if he says something, even something suggestive, he knew the consequences he would get from his wife, and it wouldn't be even funny.

 **"There it is! Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes rolls! And... two craps. Line away!"**

"I swear Rhodey is the unluckiest person in Earth it's not even funny, excluding you guys, of course," Pepper muttered when the all of the superheroes glanced at her incredulously, obviously they have worst luck, every single time. Darcy snorted loudly, her glasses almost falling from her nose. Rhodey shifted his glare to the girl, and said girl ignored him, hiding chuckles and even Wanda looked amused.

 **"That's what happens,"** _Rhodey utters, Tony rolling his shoulders as chips are taken from him._

 **"Worst things have happened. I think we're going to be fine,"** _Tony shrugged._

"That's certainly true," said Pietro and the others nodded at him in agreement. Vision still looked tense, as if he knew what will happen next. 'Are you okay?' Wanda telepathically asked him worriedly. Vision slightly turned his head and nodded secretly.

 _The scene changes and they're seen walking outside as Tony left the casino with all of his entourage trailing after him, Rhodey shook his hand,_ **"This is where I exit,"** _he said._

 **"All right!"** _He replies._

 **"Tomorrow! Don't be late!"** _Rhodey reminded him as he walked away._

"What will happen?" asked Steve curiously.

"You'll see," Pepper replied back coldly.

 **"Yeah, you can count on it!"**

Rhodey scoffed but didn't say anything. The man left him standing for three hours straight. He was still upset because of it and resented him because of that.

 **"I'm serious!"** _called onscreen Rhodey._

 **"I know, I know,"** _replied Tony, and then as he passed a group of costumed employees he said,_ **"Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's,"** _and casually handed off the trophy to the shocked man dressed as Caesar._ **"There you go!"**

"Just like that?" Darcy asked incredulously and even the others looked shocked that he would give a trophy into a stranger just like that.

"Well, stealing a quote from Tony's book: _"It's too much a bother anyway, and I get so many trophies every year that I would just hand off some to strangers, it's not like I need it anyway."_ That's what he always said," Pepper shrugged her shoulders casually and crossed her arms.

Darcy continued to gape, her eyes gleaming with jealousy.

 _Tony continued to walk outside towards his black car, his entourage following behind him. He was just about to climb inside when a woman's voice from behind called him, her heels clacking loudly,_ **"Mr. Stark!"**

 _Tony turned around to see a pretty blonde woman about late 20's running up._ **"Excuse me, Mr. Stark,"** _said the woman, halting in front of his followers._ **"Christine Everhart, Vanity Fair Magazine, could I ask you a couple of questions?"** _the lady named Christine asked and Tony turned to Happy._

 **"She's cute,"**

 **"She's all right?"** _asked Tony, and Happy nodded._

"Just like that?" Steve asked, though Natasha noticed a lace of jealousy in his words, she almost smiled and turned to him incredulously.

"Yes, Steve, just like that." Natasha bluntly emphasized and shot him a look, a look that knows something, and Steve immediately turned away, red covering his face and huffed, looking annoyed even though he flushed slightly. Even Bucky almost smirked at the Steve beside him.

 _Tony stepped forward,_ **"Hi."**

 **"Hi!"** _Christine Everhart replied cheerily._

 **"Hey, okay go,"**

 _Christine smiled and launched into interviewer and reporter mode at once,_ **"You've been called the Da Vinci of our time, what do you say to that?"**

 **"Absolutely ridiculous, I don't paint,"** _replied Tony immediately with no hesitance in his voice._

 **"And what do you say to your other nickname, the Merchant of Death?"** _Christine asked sneakily, her eyes glinting._

Pepper almost growled and Steve looked angry, and Thor looked on confusedly, even Loki was curious. "Why is he called the Merchant of Death? Did he trade with Death?" Thor inquired and Bruce immediately replied to him... and Loki, he could certainly see the Trickster was curious too,

"He was called the Merchant of Death because he made weapons that could destroy cities and towns, Thor." Thor looked shocked and a horrified look spread through his face before he looked mournful and sad. How sad that his friend be named by such thing.

 **"That's not bad,"** _said Tony with an approving nod._ **"Let me guess. Berkeley?"**

 **"Brown, actually."** _Christine replied hotly, a scowl in her face clearly showing she was unamused._

 **"Well, Ms. Brown, it's an imperfect world, but it's the only one we've got. I guarantee you, the day weapons are no longer needed to keep the peace, I'll start making bricks and beams for baby hospitals."**

"Really?" Clint asked incredulously and Maria Hill shot him a look that obviously says, Are you kidding me?

"Of course _not_ ," Peter snorted as he heard the distinct lack of humor in Pepper's voice. He is obviously enjoying this back-and-forth arguments.

 **"Rehearse that much?"** _Christine sarcastically replied as her eyes narrowed._

 **"Every night in front of the mirror before bedtime,"**

"Sometimes every other day too," Vision quipped and a few chuckles were heard around the room.

 **"I'd like to see that,"**

 **"I'd like to show you firsthand,"** _Tony replied suggestively._

"Ooh!" Clint mumbled suggestively, his eyebrows saying it all. Natasha looked at the corner of her eyes and saw that Steve and unexpectedly, Bucky and Loki looking distinctly annoyed. She smirked to herself and mumbled in Russian so quietly that no one heard her, "Похоже, что есть любовь квадратный пивоварения."

 **"All I want is a serious answer,"** _Christine said impatiently._

Fury snorted quietly and muttered so quietly that no one heard him, "As if, Tony was never serious."

 **"Okay, here's serious,"** _Tony folded his arms._ **"My old man had a philosophy: peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy."**

 **"That's a great line coming from the guy selling the sticks,"** _the woman countered._

"Straight-forward, eh." T'Challa said and Clint nodded in agreement, the woman was so blunt and had a confrontational reply after all.

 **"My father helped defeat the nazis, he worked on the Manhattan project. A lot of people, including you professor would call that being a hero."**

 **"And a lot of people would also call that war profiteering,"** _snarked Christine_

"She has a point." Jane pointedly said.

 **"Tell me,"** _Tony removed his sunglasses looking distinctly annoyed and aggrieved._ **"Do you plan to report on the millions we've saved by advancing medical technology or kept from starvation with our telepromts? All those breakthrough - military funding, honey."**

 **"Wow."** _Christine said,_ **"You ever lose an hour of sleep in your whole life?"**

 **"I'm prepared to lose a few with you,"**

 _And in the next scene —_

Everyone groaned and Wanda blushed so hotly that her face was almost redder than her hair. Steve folded his arms and Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy looked obviously annoyed and groaning. Darcy paled along with Jane and Helen and Maria just rubbed her head sufferingly. Some whistled— Sam, Scott, and Clint, causing Clint to have a major migraine again, caused by his red-faced wife, Laura. Vision looked tensed however they could see him faltering there and now.

Steve flushed hotly while Loki's eyes were filled with mirth, they could obviously see that behind his impassive facade, he could be laughing loudly right now. Bucky just covered his eyes behind his arm and Natasha could see the three of them secretly looking so jealous, however, no one could see it other than her. She smirked to herself, obviously enjoying the show.

"посмотрите на них сейчас Тони , они явно ревнует."

* * *

• **Похоже, что есть любовь квадратный пивоварения -** There's clearly a love square brewing.

• **посмотрите на них сейчас Тони , они явно ревнует -** Look at them now, Tony, they're obviously jealous.

 **Hey everyone! So I apologize for updating so late, however, I will make this author's note very short; Thank you for everyone who reviewed, followed, and favorited my story! I deeply appreciate it and I'm grateful for the viewers! And ooh, look's like there's a romance brewing. *wiggles eyebrows***

 **Love, Shadow Sylpheria**


	4. The Jericho Missile

**Maschera di Ferro**

 **04: The Jericho Missile**

 _The next scene showed Christine lying across the bed, obviously naked and covered by the sheet covers._

Steve flustered hotly, while Wanda blushed, her face almost redder than her hair. She covered her eyes with her arms and let out a small groan. Pietro snickered loudly while Sam quirked an eyebrow and chuckled, his voice deep causing Wanda to blush redder than ever. Jane just sighed while Darcy smirked knowingly.

 **"Good morning. It's 7:00 am."** _JARVIS said, startling her awake and she gasped, pulling the sheets over her._

"I remembered when all of you heard JARVIS for the first time," Pepper said knowingly, a smirk spreading to her face while a few groaned. Vision even let out a small smile, he was JARVIS after all, and he remembered the others' reactions when they first heard him. Rhodey chuckled, his eyes glinting with happiness and mischievous.

"Steve's reaction was the funniest, though. I remembered him jumping so high and tensed, looking ready to attack someone." Natasha added, while Steve blushed steadily. A few laughs were heard and he hid his face in his hands. Clint and Scott grinned, high-fiving each other and continuing to tease the tomato Steve.

 **"The weather in Malibu is seventy-two degrees with scattered clouds, the surf conditions are fair with waist-to-shoulder high lines, and high tide will be at 10:52 AM,"** _she stared in amazement as holograms appeared showing the time, the temperature, and weather forecast for the day. The words "Malibu, California" was shown._

"Woah! Is that Tony's house?" Clint gaped in amazement, though playful envy was clearly shown in his eyes.

"Mansion, in fact." Pepper emphasized, motioning her hands over the screen. "Why didn't he ever brought us there?" complained Clint, while Natasha teased him, "I have been there before, and I could readily admit that that is the most beautiful mansion I've ever seen."

"Woah! Really?" cried out Darcy in amazement, her loud voice causing the ones who surround her— Jane, Helen, and Scott to wince.

"Well, used to be." Happy quipped in shortly. He frowned secretly, and the Avengers quirked an eyebrow in interest and looked at him.

"Used to be? What happened to Friend Stark's house?!" boomed Thor, causing Jane to wince as she was in the middle of Darcy and Thor, their voices so loud she thought her eardrums might burst.

"I'm sure you'll know it soon," Pepper added mysteriously.

 _The scene changed, and Christine wandered around, covered in one of Tony's polos._ **"Tony?"** _she called loudly._

 **"Tony, hey, Tony?"** _She caught sight of a door with a small blue screen next to it, and walked up to it. She reached out curiously to touch the screen._

"She shouldn't have done that," muttered Steve. He and the other Avengers winced as they remembered the traps, amazingly difficult, that tricked them when they tried to go to Tony's workshop in the Avengers Tower. Only Natasha, Pepper, Bruce, and Rhodey knew the override codes and they secretly hid them surely.

"Why?" Pietro asked, curiosity covering his face. He hadn't been to The Avengers Tower after all.

 **"Sir Tony put traps into them when someone tried to break in his workshop. However, as far as I know, Sir Tony hadn't put traps into them before the Afghanistan happened,"** _replied Vision formally, his voice neutral and void of emotion._

 _It beeped instantly, and Christine jumped back, as the British voice quipped in again,_ **"You are not authorized to access this area."**

 **"Jesus."** _She_ _muttered in surprise_. **"That's Jarvis, he runs the house,"** _said a familiar voice behind her._

"Hello Lady Pepper!" Thor boomed and waved in the screen while Wanda clapped. Jane chuckled at him while Pepper faltered slightly, blushing as her character finally appeared. Natasha patted her in the back and smiled. Beside Natasha, Bruce chuckled also.

 _Christine turned around to see Pepper, wearing a formal business suit. Her bright red hair pulled back into a ponytail, and she was wearing a professional business smile._

 **"I've got your clothes here,"** _said onscreen Pepper as she hold the clothes of the seemingly Christine._ **"They've been dry cleaned and pressed, and there's a car waiting for you outside that will take you anywhere you go."**

 **"You must be the famous Pepper Potts,"** _mocked Christine, her eyes full of mischief._

"Uh oh, catfight is coming." Darcy mumbled causing Pepper to smile a bit.

"She's just trying to boast to Pepper that she had sex with him, but she doesn't know that Pepper clearly tops the list of having sex with Tony, none could ever challenge with that." Rhodey snorted and crossed his arms and Natasha nodded in agreement. Pepper blushed hotly and smacked his back loudly, causing him to cringe in pain, groaning as he touched his aching back.

Meanwhile, in the corner of Natasha's eye, she could obviously see Steve's smile turning into a frown and even Loki's eyes seemed distressed. Bucky huffed and his frown visible, jealousy was obviously covering the three of them. Natasha almost laughed, but she settled for a smirk. Bruce turned to her inquiringly, but just shrugged and knew something was obviously up.

 **"Indeed I am,"** _Pepper shortly replied, her smile obviously fake._

 **"After all these years, Tony still has you picking up the dry cleaning,"** _Christine said, her words obviously laced with insult and mockery. However, Pepper was unfazed and her smile was unwavering,_

 **"I do anything and everything Mr. Stark requires... including occasionally taking out the trash. Will that be all?"**

"And Virginia 'Pepper' Potts wins!" Rhodey applaud loudly, spreading his hands, ignoring the unwavering glare of Pepper and snickered as he heard the laughter and snorts everywhere.

 _The scene changed and turned to the downstairs of Tony's workshop, Tony was obviously working, loud music and boices angrily blaring through the speakers._ **"Give me an exploded view,"** _commanded Tony to a holographic screen in front of him._

 **"Compression in cylinder three appears to be low,"** _replied the voice of JARVIS._

"Whoa! So many tools!" cried Darcy, her eyes shone with awe and amazement and even the others couldn't disagree with that. Almost all of them hadn't seen Tony's workshop after all, sans Bruce, Pepper, Rhodes, Happy, and Natasha. And the workshop was clearly a magnificent art, Clint gaped along with Scott and Sam, eyes envious as they looked over the cars.

 **"Log that,** " _said onscreen Tony, just as Pepper came down, opening the glass doors as her heels clacked. Her phone glued to her ear as she held folders in her hand._

 **"I'm going to try again right now,"** _she was muttering in her phone as she walked in._

 **"Please don't turn down my music,** " _said Tony without looking up._

 **"I'll keep you posted,"** _said Pepper in her phone and hung up. Then without a pause she told Tony,_ **"You are supposed to be halfway around the world right now-"**

"Wait, didn't" before Bruce could even finish his sentence, Pepper cut him off, "Yes" and Rhodey grumbled, looking disgruntled and distressed and Clint let out a snort, muttering, "I couldn't believe it."

 **"How'd she take it?"** _questioned Tony._

 **"Like a champ,"** _Pepper muttered bitterly._

 **"Why're you trying to hustle me out of here?"** _asked Tony, still not raising his head to look at Pepper._

"I assure you it was Pepper's birthday," Natasha spoke, while Vision seemed amused. Loki raised an eyebrow at that and muttered silently, "Of course it was, the look on her face obviously shows it."

 **"Your flight was scheduled to leave an hour ago."** _Pepper reminded him sternly._

 **"It's funny, I thought with it being my plane and all, that it would just wait for me to get there."** _Tony knowingly replied._

"Point," Clint pointedly said and Natasha arched an eyebrow at that. "Well, he owns the plane, the plane wouldn't leave even though they need to because they would surely get fired if they leave their boss."

"Hmm." She settled for a thoughtful look and scowled slightly at him, leaving him smirking and pumping his fists up.

"Even so, he shouldn't leave someone there hanging for three hours,"

 **"Tony, I need to speak to you about a couple of things before I get you out of the door,"** _Onscreen Pepper told him as she brushed a stray lock of hair from her face and straightened her folders._

 **"I mean, doesn't it kind of defeat the whole purpose of having your own plane if it departs before you arrive?"** _Tony continued, finally turning around._

 **"Larry called,"** _said Pepper, ignoring him completely and continued on,_ **"He's got another buyer for the Jackson Pollock in the wings - do you want it, yes or no?"**

"What?" asked T'Challa.

"A painting." Vision recalled.

 **"Is it a good representation of his spring period?"** _Tony asked, bending down to swipe something._

 **"No. The Springs was actually a neighborhood in East Hampton, where he lived and worked, not 'Spring' like the season."**

 **"So?"**

 **"I think it's a fair example, ummm... I think it's incredibly overpriced."** _Pepper offered her opinion, knowing Tony would still buy it anyway._

"How overpriced?" Peter leaned, incredibly curious and even Pietro leaned a little.

"You wouldn't even want to ask," replied Rhodey and Pepper rolled her eyes.

 **"I need it. Buy it, store it."** _He demanded._

 **"Okay,"** _Pepper replied, her lips twitched into a smile as she wrote something in her folder and walked after him,_ **"The MIT commencement speech —"**

 **"Is in June, please, don't harangue me about stuff that's way, way down."**

 **"They're haranguing me, so I'm gonna say yes."** _Pepper shot back, and looked down to her folder again._

 **"Deflect it and absorb it, don't transmit it back to me."** _Tony said._

"Really?" Scott asked incredulously, while Clint looked distinctly bemused.

 **"I need you to sign this before you get on the plane."**

 **"What are you trying to get rid of me for? What, you got plans?"** _Tony questioned._

"Does it matter?" Pietro inquired, an amused look on his face and Pepper shook her head, sending him a small smile.

 **"I don't like it when you have plans,"** _Tony complained._

 **"I'm allowed to have plans on my birthday,"** _Pepper said and smiled a little._

"See." Natasha said, while some twitched a smile and others simply don't care.

 **"It's your birthday,"** _Tony pretended to look surprised and shocked._

"He forgot it obviously," mumbled Hill.

 **"Yes."** _Pepper said._

 **"I knew that. Already?"**

 **"Yeah, isn't that strange? It's the same day as last year,"** _Pepper sarcastically snarked back._

 **"Get yourself something nice for me,"**

 **"I already did."**

 **"And?"**

 **"It was very nice."**

Clint sighed loudly and looked bored, getting two smacks on the head, courtesy of his wife and Natasha. Clint winced and yelled in pain, clutching the sore and very red bruise forming in his head. "You two are sadists, really. How can you do this to me?" He dramatically complained and Natasha shot him a narrowed look, arching two perfect red eyebrows and Clint sighed again.

 **"Yeah?"**

 **"Very tasteful. Thank you, Mr. Stark."**

 **"You're welcome, Miss Potts,"**

"Aww," Jane gushed and Sam bit back a reply, his mouth twitching and his hand vibrating in excitement. Beside him, Scott looked bored, putting his head in his arm and pretended to fall asleep. This act caused Sam to shake him and smack him loudly in the back, and he immediately rose and glared at Sam who was hiding snickers.

 _The scene changed and saw a fast Audi R8 speeding across a desert. Music blasted loudly from its speakers. A black car follows him and sped up, trying to catch up to the sports car ahead._

 _After a while, the Audi stops in an airport. Tony opened the door when the black car followed, sliding to a stop._ **"You're good, I thought I lost you back there,"** _Tony smirked, standing up and a leather jacket was shown. Happy gets out and grins, taking bags out of the car's trunk._

 **"You did, sir. I had to cut across Mulholland."** _Happy replied, carrying the bags out of the trunk quite difficult._

 **"I got you, I got you!"** _Tony smiled and nodded, turning and walking towards the awaiting craft. He frowned once he saw Rhodey's frown as well at the top of the stairs._

 **"What's wrong with you?!"** _huffed Rhodey, flinging up his hands._

 **"What?"** _Tony asked back, looking distinctly unconcerned._

 **"Three hours,"**

"Three hours?!" Bruce sighed, slapping his hand loudly in his forehead. Even Maria, whose known to keep her composure very well, gaped slightly. Jane gasped in surprise and even Darcy looked startled. Three hours?!

 **"I got caught doing a piece for Vanity Fair,"** _Tony replied back as he walked towards the top._

Fury sighed as he guffawed along with Clint, Sam, Scott, T'Challa, and Peter.

"I knew it," Bruce sighed, mumbling.

"So that's why you're angry, huh?" Natasha asked Rhodey amusedly while the man grumbled and huffed, crossing his arms and scowled.

 **"For three hours, for three hours you left me standing here,"** _Rhodey snapped back, glaring as Tony passed him by the plane._

"This is not justice, this is unfair." Clint mumbled desperately, while Sam dramatically joined him literally in unison, chanting, "This is not fair, this is injustice," repeatedly until Natasha and Wanda effectively shut them up. Natasha took out a duct tape, god knows where she got that, and slapped it quickly in Clint and Sam's mouth. Clint mumbled incoherently, narrowing his eyes into a sharp glare and shot it to Natasha, who merely raised an eyebrow and shot him a bland look. Her eyes blank yet they could see mischievousness in her eyes.

"Nice," Loki mumbled, eyes twinkling with mischief, and looked on interestedly at the two men. Thor turned to him and he immediately settled for a blank and bored look, ignoring his supposed brother and stared at the screen.

 **"Waiting on you now, let's go, come on."** _Happy came after him, heavily carrying the suit and his bags._

Scott just gaped, he can't believe what is currently happening and he don't want to be the next victim of Natasha's duct tape, thus, they learned to never mess with her ever, even though she had no weapons with her.

 **"Wheels up! Rock and roll!"** _Tony's voice was heard and they finally see the inside of the plane. An attractive stewardess in a blue suit was pouring Tony something in a glass. She smiled at him as she did so._

 _Once the plane took off, it showed Rhodey reading a newspaper while Tony fidgets in his seat, looking across at his friend._

 **"What ya reading, platypus?"** _Tony asked, spinning his seat to look to Rhodey._

"Lady Jane —"

"A type of mammal that lays eggs," Darcy cut him off and deadpanned quickly, while he scratched his head silently and looked on confused, but decided to just shrug. Jane gave him a shy smile and whispered at what a platypus is.

 **"Nothing."** _Rhodey replied, his nose stuck inside of what he was reading._

 **"Come on, sour patch,"** _Tony started—_

 **"Not sour,"**

 **"Don't be mad,"** _Tony finished._

 **"Told you I'm not mad, I'm — I'm indifferent, okay?"**

"He had every right to be," T'Challa muttered glumly, and Rhodey nodded at him.

 **"I said I was sorry,"** _said Tony as another attractive stewardess, a brunette this time, came up to him with a smile, saying,_ **"Good morning, Mr. Stark."**

 **"Told you, you don't need to apologize."**

 _Tony looked up to the stewardess, gesturing with a hand,_ **"I told him I was sorry."**

 **"I'm not mad,"** _replied Rhodey._

 **"Hot towel?"** _asked the stewardess._

 **"Yes please."** _said Tony, and the stewardess handed him a rolled up cloth napkin before she walked out of sight._

 **"I just, I know you don't respect yourself, so I know you don't respect me,"** _said Rhodey._ **"I'm just your babysitter -"**

 **"Do respect ya,"** _Tony protested._

 **"- and so any time you need your diaper changed - thank you - let me know and I'll get you a bottle, okay?"**

"That's harsh," Wanda frowned slightly, but it is creepy that his assessment was quite true in a way.

 _The brunette stewardess had returned with plates and Tony called her,_ **"Hey - heat up a sake, will you?"**

 **"What's a sake?"** _asked Steve._

"A Japanese alcohol, like wine in America," Sam replied, finally have gotten the duct tape out of his mouth.

 **"Yes, Mr. Stark,"** _she said and walked away._

 **"No!"** _protested Rhodey._ " **What are you talki - we're not drinking, we're working right now!"**

 **"You can't have sashimi without a sake,"** _replied Tony._

 **"And you are constitutionally incapable of being responsible,** " _snarked Rhodey as the brunette stewardess walked out and the blonde stewardess walked back in with a bottle._

Bruce frowned, but settled to stay silent.

 **"It would be irresponsible not to drink, I'm just talking about a nightcap -"**

 **"Hot sake?"** _asked the stewardess._

 **"Yes, two, please,"** _said Tony, and the stewardess began to pour from the bottle into his glass._

 **"No, miss, I'm not drinking, I don't want any,"** _protested Rhodey as the stewardess began pouring into his glass too._

 _The scene changed and it showed Tony and Rhodey were sitting together on a sofa with a screen playing some kind of music behind them, Rhodey obviously quite drunk._

 **"And that's what I'm talking about, when I get up in the morning, and I'm putting on my uniform, you know what I recognize?"**

Rhodey groaned, covering his face in his hands, completely forgetting his grudge towards Tony and dreadfully replayed the scenes in his head. All of them were laughing and Sam was snorting loudly, and popcorn was flying everywhere.

 _Tony took a drink and looked at him._

 **"I see in that mirror that every person that's got this uniform on got my back!"**

Clint laughed loudly, covering his face in muffled laughter as Rhodey was completely in the walk of shame now, even Natasha let out a small chuckle, and that's a surprise, coming from the assassin.

"What are you even talking about?" Scott gasps in laughter, holding his stomach tightly as he laughed, tears of happiness leaving him exhausted and gasping.

 _Then it showed three stewardesses dancing for the men's entertainment, with their shirts tied above the stomach and their short skirts showing plenty of leg. Tony was obviously trying to watch the women, but Rhodey wouldn't let him._

 **"Hey, you know what, I'm not like you, I'm not,"**

 **"No, no, you don't have to be like me, but you are mor than what you are, you just can't see it"** _Rhodey slurred._

 **"Can you excuse me if I'm a little bit distracted here?"** _Tony gestured to the women._

 **"No - no, man, you keep being distracted right now."**

 _There was another brief shot of the plane beginning its descent, and then another of a military base buzzing with humvees, soldiers in uniform, and crates and trucks. The words_ " **Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan** " _was shown in the screen._

 _Tony walked out of his plane and came down the steps to meet a small waiting crowd obviously made up of the top-ranking officers. He was now wearing his business suit._

 **"General,"** _smiled Tony, and he shook the hand of a grizzled man with dark sunglasses._

"He can be respectful?" gaped Clint, and Pepper just rolled her eyes at him. It's not worth talking to a man like that.

 **"Welcome, Mr. Stark, I look forward to your weapons presentation."** _the General finished._

 _Then Tony turned to the man standing beside him, a man of obviously Middle Eastern origin, who spoke no English, and shook his hand as well._

 _And then Tony was standing in front of the expectant military audience, which included Rhodey._ **"Is it better to be feared or respected?"** _he asked rhetorically._

 **"I say, is it too much to ask for both? With that in mind, I humbly present the crown jewel of Stark Industries Freedom line. It's the first missile system to incorporate our proprietary repulsor technology. They' say the best weapon is the one you never have to fire. I respectfully disagree. I prefer the weapon you only have to fire once. That's how dad did it, that's how America does it, and it's worked out pretty well so far. Find an excuse to let one of these off the chain and I personally guarantee you, the bad guys won't even want to come out of their caves."**

 _He motioned with his hand, and the rocket began to move, cameras facing up tips pointing toward the sky. First one, then the next, and then the third of the rockets zoomed into the air. In mid flight, smaller rockets burst out of the large ones, followed by yet another stream of even smaller rockets, all of which went flying a safe, far distance away._

"Whoa."

 **"For your consideration, the Jericho.** " _said Tony and spread his hands as the explosives lit up the desert with fire before darkening it with smoke. It destroyed the mountains loudly and caused the military audience slightly shake, their hats flying afar._

Wanda shivered, remembering the bomb explosion that happened in Sokovia but Pietro quickly hushed her and comforted her as she cried silently.

 _Tony opened a large case with his logo on the side. A large tray of glasses and two bottles of expensive-looking wine rose out of it automatically, and Tony took a glass and poured himself some of the wine._

 **"I'll be throwing one of these in with every purchase of five hundred million or more,"** _he said, gesturing with the glass ,_ **"To peace!"** _he raised his glass and drank from it._

 _Then Tony pulled out his phone - a slider, of all things._

 **"Tony!"** _said Obadiah Stane, appearing on the screen of the phone. He seemed to be in bed, lying by his side and it seemed that it was midnight in America while it was daytime in Afghanistan._

 **"Obie, what are you doing up?"**

 **"I couldn't sleep till I found out how it went, how'd it go?"**

Clint narrowed his eyes slightly, looking with suspicion and he noticed that the others too were looking at him with suspicion, he seemed odd. Meanwhile, Pepper, Rhodey, Natasha, and Happy shared a knowing look, but decided not to give away the story, it's better if they find out themselves.

 **"Went great,"** _told Tony, walking up to one of the humvees._

 **"Looks like it's going to be an early Christmas."**

 **"Hey!"** _said Obadiah._ **"Way to go, my boy! I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"**

 **"Why aren't you wearing those pajamas I got you?"**

 **"Goodnight, Tony,"** _said Obadiah, and hung up._

"He's suspiciously odd," Sam said to what's everyone thinking, narrowing his eyes furthermore and even Steve had a sinking feeling to what Obadiah is. Meanwhile, Bruce shuddered subconsciously, the man just sounded like Ross.

 **"Hey, Tony!"** _said Rhodey, running up to Tony's humvee just before he took off._

 **"I'm sorry, this is the fun-vee,"** _smirked Tony_

 **"The humdrum-vee is back there,"** _he gestured with his hand and motioned towards the back of the line._

 **"Nice job,"**

 **"See you back at the base,"** _said Tony, and he closed up the window._

 _And then there came the shot that they knew was coming, of all the humvees in a line riding through the humid desert. This time it was cut, showing only the humvee blowing up_.

Vision tensed again like a statue and Pepper shot him a worrying look, to which he replied with a tense nod.

 _Then onscreen Tony was fading in and out of consciousness, in some dark place with one bright light shining almost directly in his face._

"Where is he?" Wanda questioned.

"In a cave," Rhodes answered coldly.

 _There were voices shouting, once again in a Middle Eastern language. Hands with surgical tools were cutting him open and plunging into his flesh and pulling out little bits of something that gleamed dark with blood._

"Oh my god!" cried Helen in shock, she just saw the most disgusting thing she ever saw.

"Is that the surgery?" Jane asked nervously, twiddling her fingers and the others looked surprised.

 _And then onscreen Tony screamed in pain and kept on screaming._

Pepper was sobbing, and Rhodes tensed along with Vision, whose eyes seemed to be crying out desperately.

"WHAT THE FUCK?! THEY OPENED HIM WITHOUT ANESTHESIA?!" roared Bruce, his eyes tinting slightly green and his whole body was almost fully green, he clutched on the arm chair tightly and destroyed it, roaring and swearing loudly, but fortunately, he managed to stay calm. Steve's eyes widened with surprise and Bucky was startled at the noise, even Loki's eyes were filled with panic, fear, and understanding. The three of them were clutching their arm chair tightly, it was surprising it didn't rip into pieces yet.

Natasha tightened her lips as Maria's eyes widened significantly and Fury swore, even he hadn't experienced that and he was surprised this was actually what happened to Stark. Peter was crying loudly, covering his face with his arms and he shivered with T'Challa trying to comfort him. This is the second time he cried, and he can't help it.

Wanda gasped as red sparks flew around her, and Pietro even seemed so surprised, he was running back and forth so fast everyone could just see a blur.

"Tony," Pepper weakly cried out and Happy hugged her, though he can't tear his eyes from the screen, clenching his fists, as they dared to torture his boss.

 _Then came a glimpse of something round being placed in his chest._

* * *

 **Hey, so, I'm gonna make this note very short,please visit my poll, it's in my user account and the poll is: "Should I write a (currently) one shot story about Avengers watching Suicide Squad trailer?" Please don't answer the question here, but definitely in the poll. Thank you, suggestions are accepted, thank you for all the loving support, reviews, favorites, and followers. I love you all so much! MWAH!**

 **Love, Shadow Sylpheria.**


	5. Two Intelligent Minds

**Maschera di Ferro**

 **05: Two Intelligent Minds**

"The fuck what happened?!" Clint's scream cut off the unbearable silence covering the room. His eyes were furious and concerned at the same time, cursing the terrorists who did those to his best friend, his prank buddy, was, Tony Stark. Beside him, Laura was rubbing his back comfortingly while tears streaked through her face, muttering words of comfort. Natasha clenched her fists, paling while she cursed, blinking away the tear threatening to escape her beautiful eyes. She thinned her lips and turned concerned towards Pepper, Happy, Bruce, Rhodey, and Peter, the five who were most affected by the videos they saw.

Peter covered his face in his hands, curling up into a ball and while Pepper was trying to comfort him, she, too, was crying uncontrollably. Rhodey's eyes hardened with malice as he cursed the Ten Rings in his mind, and Obadiah too. Happy, although hidden, was crying silently, muffled by his hands, and stopped himself to punch the screen. Bruce was the worst, he roared, eyes furious and angry, but not enough to let the Hulk out, however, his eyes and skin were tinted green, trying to control his breathing in and out, eyes blazed with fury as he tightened his face, blocking everyone's noises and shut his eyes off.

The others were not so well clearly. Darcy was crying as Jane murmured nervously. Steve flinched quietly as even though no one could see, his eyes were full of tears and anger, angry at the people who did those to Tony, his friend, his teammate, his lover, once. Steve whispered and grunted and almost destroyed the leathered arm chair if it hadn't been for the almost indestructible chair. Beside him, Bucky was blank and emotionless, but he was still worried too, he grimaced, he can't help but feel something, yet he can't comprehend what he's feeling, as though he was angry, but something stirred within him, which he can't explain.

However, Vision, Vision was much worse. His posture stiffened as he clenched the armchair, marks embedded the leather as he let out a scream. His eyes screamed danger and his skin paled, though he never said anything.

"If I didn't know so well, I would say he died in that cave." Fury mumbled, sighing in resignation when a couple flinched when they heard died. He grumbled, knowing that all of them still feel guilty of what happened to Tony. "Rest in peace, Stark," Hill whispered, although no one heard.

"Where are they now?! I shall kill them and curse them to the depths of hell for doing this to Friend Tony!" Thor exclaimed, soft lightning cracked underneath Mjolnïr, and his eyes were deeply angered and sad.

"They're dead now and they surely won't come back from the dead." Natasha interjected coldly and Thor crossed his arms although no one could hear the words Loki muttered in distaste, "Good."

Suddenly, a flash so bright suddenly appeared that everyone covered their eyes, while Sam cussed, and a figure appeared and half of the population dropped their jaws in surprise.

"Coulson," Clint muttered, surprised and the others went talking too, causing a cacophony of noise. Phil smiled slightly though he looked confused and bowed slightly in respect to Fury, "Where am I?" He asked though he was cut off by Natasha, "How are you alive?!"

"Fury and Maria didn't tell you?" He questioned back confusedly, and turned to look towards Fury, who sighed as the glares of the Avengers were directed by to him, "I didn't tell anyone except Hill because I knew they would exactly turn out like this, and do rash actions."

"But, how dare you not telling us?! We mourned him and we even saw a body!" Steve answered, his voice loud and clear. "That's a wax figure, Rogers, however, during that time, Coulson actually died, but someone volunteered to sacrifice, but I won't tell you how Coulson is alive, I'll tell you another time, we should watch shouldn't we?" Fury replied coldly, cutting the conversation off like a sword. Hill sharply turned slightly and shot him a look.

Clint explained everything to Phil and he sighed, rubbing his head, and sat beside Peter, whose face is still glum and dried tears covered his face. He looked towards him pityingly, and Peter nodded silently, rubbing his eyes with his hand. They all sighed and turned back to the screen that immediately started up.

 _Tony woke up lying on a cot in a room in a the cave, his chest wrapped in bandages with blood seeping through draped over a black sweater, and a small breathing tube attached to his nose. He widened his eyes and breathed heavily, pained and raggedly, and looked around. His hand immediately went up to the tube and started pulling. He grunted in pain and took off the surgical bandage and breathed out._

Bruce grumbled and Rhodey gritted his teeth, itching to punch a wall or something that might lessen up his stress.

"No anesthesia and no proper medical necessities? I can't believe Tony went through that," Bruce grunted and sighed heavily.

"He's similar to me in a way," Loki murmured quietly, finally showing sympathy towards another mortal, another person, in fact, which surprised the viewers and Thor smiled, thinking, _"Friend Anthony might help Loki, even only through this clips, I wonder."_

 _He reached out for a cup containing some sort of liquid on a cabinet nearby but he only succeeded on knocking it over the floor. His eyes widened slightly and panted as he noticed a slender, elderly man humming while shaving his face in front of a mirror._

Pietro glared, even though he still doesn't trust Stark, he can't help but feel resentful towards the other man whose living without a care. However, Wanda arched an eyebrow in interest and whispered quietly, "Who is he?"

"His name is Yinsen and don't judge him firstly by his looks because he's the one who saved Tony, after all." Pepper indicated sharply, pointing towards the man.

 **"I wouldn't do that if I were you,"** _the man reprimanded in front of the mirror._

 _His breathing became more panicked and shallowed as he neatly rolled back and spotted the battery lying on the table, overcame by shock, he immediately opened his sweater and began to pull the bandages quickly and almost vomited at the sight of what was in his chest. A glowing electromagnet, safely adjusted and pressed inside his chest and he looked shocked and aghast._

"He was hooked up to a _fucking_ car battery?! Attached to an electromagnet?!" Clint exclaimed angrily and cursed as Bruce tried not to puke and let his anger out. He inhaled and exhaled and counted to ten. Natasha cursed loudly in Russian, though no one understood what she said, except for Bucky whose eyes were surprisingly blazing with anger.

Steve sputtered as he tried to collect himself, and Helen widened her eyes larger than ever, whispering, "Car battery?"

"How dare they do that to Friend Anthony! I shall curse them to the deepest parts of the Nine Realms where they won't escape forever!" Thor boomed angrily, clutching his Mjolnïr as he tried not to shoot a lightning over the holographic screen.

Pepper sadly let out a sob and Peter clenched his fists, angry to those who have done that to his role model, to someone who showed Peter love and care and became his father figure.

 _Tony sat on the floor and zipped up the hoodie given to him as the man cooked the little food over a small fire that was provided for them. He asked weakly,_ **"What the hell did you do to me?"**

 _Yinsen looked up and chuckled_ , **"What I did?"** _he said._ **"What I did was to save your life—"**

"By hooking him up to a fucking car battery attached to an electromagnet that could very well just end his life because of all the bacterias covering that thing? That thing is a death trap for gods sake," Rhodes scoffed and crossed his arms, already despising the man as he glared, his lips thinned in a tight-lipped scowl.

 **"I removed all the shrapnel I could, but there's a lot left. And it's headed into your atrial septum."**

"What is the atrial septum the man is speaking of?" Thor questioned curiously.

"An area near his heart, Thor." Jane muttered and the others paled, they thought the arc reactor was just for decoration, it actually meant more than just a suit battery. Darcy scrunched up her nose in disgust and Phil sighed forlornly.

 **"Here, want to see? I have a souvenir. Take a look."** _Yinsen pulled out a small glass bottle and threw it towards Tony, who caught it with his hand. He gave an inspecting look over the bottle filled with small metal pieces of the shrapnel that was took out of his chest._

"Despite the thing being filled with rust, it's still impressive that a person can do that in a cave in the middle of the desert. Only a true engineer could manage to hook it up to another person, or else, Tony would have died," Bruce admitted in awe And Jane interjected, "That's right, if a person doesn't have steady hands or know the entire working a person's body, that person would die if the electromagnet was suddenly hooked up to his chest."

 **"I've seen many wounds like that in my village,"** _Yinsen said._ **"We call them the walking dead, because it takes about a week for the barbs to reach the vital organs."**

 **"What is this?"** _Tony questioned, gesturing towards the round magnet in his chest and the wires and cords that covered him._

 **"That is an electromagnet hooked up to a car battery. And it's keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart."** _Yinsen informed him and smiled slightly._

"So he truly did save Tony's life," Sam added, impressed at the engineer who did that to Tony, but saddened when he heard that the man was dead already. It would be nice to meet him.

 _Tony's eyes darted towards the camera in the corner of the room and Yinsen turned to see what he was looking at and said,_ **"That's right, smile!"** _before reverting back to his serious tone._

"How could you smile in a place like that?" Natasha sneered coldly and sharply huffed, narrowing her eyes slightly in suspicion, Tony is was her friend after all.

 **"We met once you know,"** _Yinsen started slowly,_ **"at a technical conference in Bern,"**

"I remembered Tony saying to me a long time ago 'If I knew that was him, I would've offered him a job in Stark Industries'," Rhodey quoted and no one said anything by his use past tense, clearing up their suspicions that the man was certainly dead.

 **"Don't remember,"** _mumbled Tony._

 _Yinsen chuckled._ **"No, you wouldn't. If I had been that drunk, I wouldn't have been able to stand, much less give a lecture on integrated circuits."**

"Is there anything Tony couldn't do while drunk?" Bruce mused out loud, bemused and Pepper mouthed, _"It's to shut up,"_ and Bruce chuckled silently.

"I never met a mortal man who could hold his drink like Friend Anthony does!" Thor said amusedly and laughed.

 **"Where are we?"** _Tony asked dully to get information around the cave as far as possible. Yinsen had just opened his mouth when a door at the end of the cave suddenly unbolted from the outside. An unfamiliar voice started yelling._

"Oh no," Wanda uttered slightly, afraid of what will happen.

 **"Come on, stand up!"** _hissed Yinsen, hurrying over to Tony._ **"Stand up!"** _He pulled Tony to his feet as whoever was outside the door began to open it._ **"Do as I do! Come on, put your hands up."**

 _The door opened as Yinsen's and Tony's hands went up._

 _A small crowd of armed men came into the room, and Tony's eyes widened in horror._

 **"Those are my guns, how did they get my guns?"** _Tony asked in horror, disbelief, and surprise._

"Oh no," Pepper repeated and placed a hand towards her mouth, surprise etched over her face.

 **"Do you understand me? Do as I do!"** _commanded Yinsen._

 _One of the men with light black beard stepped forward, spread his arms, and spoke in a tone of welcome as he spread his arms,_ " **نرحب توني ستارك ، القاتل الجماعي الأكثر شهرة في تاريخ أمريكا"**

 _Tony looked nervously at Yinsen._

 **"He says, 'Welcome, Tony Stark, the most famous mass murderer in the mistory of America',"** _Yinsen translated as the man spoke on,_ " ي **شرفني. أنا أريد منك أن بناء الصاروخ**. ا **لصاروخ أريحا أظهرتم"**

 **"He's honored. He wants you to build the missile. The Jericho missile that you demonstrated. This one."** _He passes a photo to Tony, the picture of the missile on it amd Tony stares for a few moment before swallowing deeply and looking uptight. A blank look passes over Tony's face, a tight-lipped scowl drawn in his face._

 **"I refuse."**

"No!" Clint screamed, his voice hoarse and the others started yelling too, pleading Tony to reconsider his choices.

 _The man's, presumably leader, eyes widened and then Tony's head was shoved into water._

Vision made a scream as he muffled it with his hand and Pepper cried out. Clint's eyes blazed with anger as he tried to stop the curses coming from within him. Steve clenched his fists and clutched the armchair that it's surprising that it didn't even break. There's an unspeakable unexplained fury within him, and he could see in his peripheral that Bucky was almost losing out control. Loki gritted his teeth, though there's a sympathy hidden in his eyes.

"The file didn't say anything about torture," Wanda said in surprise. Natasha stopped her crazed Russian mutterings and turned to glare at Wanda, "Obviously you didn't read the full report, though he might've hacked it. He hacks everything about SHIELD."

 _The men yanked him upright, and he gasped for air before they shoved him back into the water again. The electromagnet in his chest sparked, and his body spasmed. He flinched at every time the spark burnt his skin and lurched forward, convulsing slightly under the electricity, as he screamed under the water, muffled and couldn't even breathe._

Thor seethed in anger and Vision shook in anger and sadness, Sam muffled his scream and Peter didn't cared, he yelled in anguish loudly as Bruce almost lose his control, again.

 _There came a brief glimpse of a man standing silently, watching the whole procedure without a word._

 **"Tony!"** _came the faint voice of Pepper through Tony's memory as he was yanked upright once again_.

Pepper managed a smile, even though it looked more like a sad grimace.

 _Tony's captors put a sack over his head and dragged him off through a perfect labyrinth of stone passageways till at last they came out from the mouth of the cave into the harsh desert. He limped and dazed by everything around him, the brown sack was pulled off Tony's head, and he blinked in the blazing sun as his eyes adjusted to the sudden light. Then he saw that the cave was surrounded by an a bustling encampment of makeshift tents. Armed men were calling to each other in various languages._

"Is this what they did to Friend Anthony?!" Thor hissed and questioned, "Is their group still around?"

"As far as we know, Tony eradicated all of them, though there are still a few missing members of the group that we haven't found yet since SHIELD was destroyed," Phil said ominously, narrowing his eyes and Maria nodded.

 _Tony and Yinsen were shoved unceremoniously down from the cave and into the camp. Tony's gaze stayed over by a great pile of crates and explosive rockets under a tent nearby. All of them wore the logo Stark Industries._

 _The man from earlier spoke again._ **"He wants to know what you think,"** _said Yinsen._

 _Tony had recovered slightly and spoke carefully and steadily,_ **"I think you've got a lot of my weapons,"**

 _The man continued to speak, gesturing his hand and motioned towards the pile of Stark weapons to their maker._

 **"He says they have everything you need to build the Jericho missile, he wants you to make the list of materials."** _Yinsen translated. With another sweeping gesture, the man spoke again, a demanding note entering his tone._

 **"He says for you to start working immediately, and when you're done, he will set you free."**

"As if," Natasha lose her composure a little and sneered and scoffed, crossing her arms.

"How can he work if you just tortured him? You just expected him to work already?" Maria scoffed.

 _The man smiled and offered Tony his hand. Tony faked smiled back and shook it._ **"No he won't," he said in a tone that already described everything that would happen to him.**

 **"No, he won't,"** _Yinsen agreed._

 _The smile and the handshake obviously convinced the man that they had a deal, and he grinned._

 _Then Tony turned his head off to the side, and some distance away stood the man who had been standing watching Tony's torture session in silence. He was watching Tony intently._

 _Back in their little area of the cave, Tony sat in pregnant silence with Yinsen next to him._

 **"I'm sure they're looking for you, Mr. Stark,"** _stated the engineer._ **"But they will never find you in these mountains."**

 _Tony stayed silent._

 _Yinsen leaned forward._ **"Look, what you just saw - that is your legacy, Stark. Your life's work, in the hands of those murderers. Is that how you want to go out? Is this the last act of defiance of the great Tony Stark?"** _His voice rose significantly and loudly._ **"Or are you going to do something about it?"**

 **"I shouldn't do anything, they're going to kill me, you, either way, and if they don't I'll probably be dead in a week."** _The lack of hope in his voice almost made him different._

"Oh, Tony," Rhodes sighed and rubbed his head. The bleak of hopelessness in his voice made everyone shudder.

 **"Well then, this is a very important week for you, isn't it, hm?"**

 _The scene changed and men were bustling back and forth inside the cave where Tony was being held, and Tony was giving directions with Yinsen translating._ **"If this is going to be my work station,"** _Tony started._ **"I want it well lit. I need welding gear, I don't care if it's acetalyine or propane. I need a soldering station, I need helmets, I would like a smelting cup, I need two sets of precision tools—"**

"What?! Is he building the missile?!" Steve cried out in surprise, a glare in his eyes. Natasha turned to glare at him back, much more fiercer and angrier than him.

"Are you stupid? Of course he wouldn't, haven't you heard? Or didn't you even read the file?! Glupyy." Steve flustered slightly before setting back in his chair, a scowl etched in his face, though it's clearly seen he was embarrassed, the red in his face and ears was much to prove that.

 _In the next scene Tony was unscrewing the base of one of the long explosives._ **"How many languages you speak?"** _he asked Yinsen._

 **"A lot,"** _replied Yinsen._ **"But apparently not enough for this place. They speak Arabic, Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Mongolian, Farsi, and Russian."**

"That's many! Even I couldn't learn one language if I hadn't studied it for a month!" Darcy exclaimed in surprise, whistling in awe and shock.

 **"Who are these people?"** _Tony asked as he pulled out the contents of the missile._

 **"They are your loyal customers, sir,"** s _aid Yinsen dryly._ **"They call themselves the Ten Rings."**

 _In a control room in another part of the caves, some of the terrorists were watching the progress happening on the computer screens via the security camera placed in their room._

 _Back in the cave Tony was using a drill she had been brought to open up one of the larger missiles_. **"You know,"** _Yinsen crouched down next to him,_ **"We might be more productive if you include me in the planning process,"** _he suggested._

 **"Huh,"** _said Tony, and he punched the rocket to get it open. He pulled out part of its insides, and from them he extracted a tiny piece of metal._ **"We don't need this,"** _he said, and threw the rocket part over his shoulder._

 **"What's that?"** _inquired Yinsen._

 **"That's palladium, 0.15 grams. We need at least 1.6, I'm going to need you to break down the other eleven."** _Tony informed him._

"Is he doing what I'm thinking he'll be doing?" Bruce groaned and Natasha smirked beside him, slightly nodding her head and Clint realized what he was doing as long as everyone and let out an incredulous laugh, "I can't believe it, Tony."

 _Back in the control room, the men were getting restless. This time subtitles appeared on the screen as they spoke._

 **"What's he doing?"** _one of the men asked._

 **"Working,"** _the other man replied back._

 _At his work station, Tony gathered some ground stuff of a deep, metallic red into a bowl. He put the smelting cup into the red stuff, and gave it a tap._

 _And then Yinsen lifted the cup out of the fire with a pair of smelting tongs, Tony hovering over his shoulder._ **"Careful, careful, we only get one shot at this."** _Tony told him as he walked forward with the car battery in his arms._

 **"Relax,"** _Yinsen reassured him,_ **"I have steady hands. Why do you think you're still alive?"**

 _Tony put the car battery down on the table, and Yinsen began to pour the melted palladium into the bowl._

 **"So what do I call you?"**

 **"My name is Yinsen,"** _he said amusedly as he continued to pour the palladium._

 **"Yinsen, nice to meet you."**

 **"Nice to meet you, too."**

 _Tony gently lifted the ring of the palladium off of the mould and into the vessel she needed it in for his mechanism as Yinsen watched. He went on to fix together lengths of wire and bits of scrap metal they had from the disassembling of the missiles using a system of mirrors so he could see a detailed look of what he is doing._

 _And then, there it was, sitting on the table, a small, circular object that glowed brightly. The lights around Tony flickered and the battery to which he was connected began to sputter._

Scott gaped in surprise but just sighed, thinking, _why am I even surprised?_

 **"Ooh,"** _exclaimed Yinsen in awe, bending over the small arc reactor._ **"That doesn't look like a Jericho missile."**

 **"That's because it's a miniaturized Arc Reactor,"** _said Tony._ **"I've got a big one powering my factory at home. It should keep the shrapnel out of my heart."**

 **"But what could it generate?"** _Yinsen asked._

 **"If my math is right, and it always is, three gigajoules per second,"** _Tony told him._

"Whoa!" Darcy exclaimed in awe.

 **"That could run your heart for fifty lifetimes!"** _Yinsen calculated._

 **"Yeah,"** _Tony admitted_. **"Or something big for fifteen minutes."**

 _Tony smoothed a number of crumpled sheets on his table and showed them to Yinsen._ **"This is our ticket out of here,"**

 **"What is it?"** _queried Yinsen._

 **"Flatten them out and look,"** _Tony said before smoothing the pieces of paper together with the help of the light the Iron Man armor came together on the pieces of paper._

"Whoa! He not only built the Arc Reactor but the Iron Man suit too!" Jane gaped in surprise.

 **"Impressive,"** _murmured Yinsen._

"True," T'Challa mumbled.

 _On a screen, the watchers saw Tony and Yinsen outside one night. Tony lay down on his back with one leg slightly elevated, they discussed something briefly, and Tony got up again, As he rose, they saw the Arc Reactor glowing in his chest as he and Yinsen walked back into the caves._

 **"Still haven't told me where you're from,"** _said Tony._

 **"I'm from a small town called Gulmira,"** _said Yinsen, and he smiled._ **"It's actually a nice place."**

 **"Got a family?"**

 **"Yes,"** _answered Yinsen._ **"And I will see them when I leave here. And you, Stark?"**

 _Tony looked up slightly, and shook his head._ **"No."**

 **"So, you're a man who has everything, and nothing."**

 _Tony stayed silent though the look in his face said everything._

"Oh, Tony," Pepper stated forlornly and the others seemed to be sad.

 _That night, the big thug approached the door of Tony and Yinsen's quarters with about half a dozen men behind him. He stopped them right in front of the door and pulled open a small sliding tab. Through it he saw Yinsen working at something. Satisfied, he shut the tab and turned around with a nod to his men, and they all strode off to another part of the cave._

 _Then there came a view of Tony's work, pieces of what would be the Suit scattered over his workspace. Tony himself was at work with a powerful woodcutting machine, safety goggles over his eyes. Then he attached a narrow tube to a small green can._

 _In the control room, the watchers were clearly uneasy._ **"It doesn't look anything like the picture,"** _complained one._

"They're so stupid and idiots," Phil sighed though there's a slight uneasy feeling in his gut he can't take out.

 **"Maybe it's been modified,"**

 **"The tail is wrong,"** _argued the other man._

 **"It's just backwards,"** _the second man replied coolly._

"Yeah, they're truly idiots," said Fury.

 _But some time later, Raza watched the screens, the ring glittering on his finger, as Tony swung his leg, encased by metal and wires._

 _The men came barging once again into the workshop, Tony removed his goggles and stopped his work as they came in. This time Raza was among them; they all made way for him._

 _Both Tony and Yinsen already had their hands behind their heads as Yinsen walked towards them._

 **"Relax,"** _Raza said in fluent English. Tony lowered his hands. Raza's eye was drawn to the Arc Reactor, and he walked up to Tony and parted his shirt to get a good look at it._ **"The bow and arrow,"** _he said without looking up._ **"Once was the pinnacle of weapons technology."**

"ONCE?! I'll kill him!" Clint shouted but was stopped when Laura smacked him in the head again.

 _Raza's eyes glanced to Tony's face, and he walked away._ **"It allowed the great Genghis Khan to rule from the Pacific to the Ukraine."**

 _Raza picked something from the working area and put it back down._ **"An empire twice the size of that of Alexander the great, and four times the size of the Roman Empire."**

"Yeah?" Steve quirked an eyebrow at that and huffed.

 _He walked to Tony again._ **"But today, whoever holds the latest Stark weapons rules these lands."**

 _He wandered over to another table and was looking over Tony's plans._ **"And soon, it will be my turn."** _He gazed towards Tony before walking up to Tony, speaking to Yinsen,_ **"Why have you failed me?"** _He demanded._

Rhodey scoffed.

 **"We're working diligently."** _Yinsen protested._

 **"I let you live, and this is how you repay me?"** _Raza complained._

 **"It's very complex,"** _said Yinsen as Raza came right up beside him._ **"He's trying very hard."**

 **"On his knees!"** _shouted Raza, and two armed men forced Yinsen down._

"Oh, no, Yinsen!" Helen said.

 **"You think I'm a fool?"** _Raza stated dangerously._ **"I'll get the truth."** _He picked up the tongs and reached into the fire with them._

"Oh, no," Phil said anxiously.

 **"We're both working,"** _Yinsen protested again._

 _Raza turned around, and in the tongs was a glowing piece of coal._

 **"Open your mouth,"** _he demanded._

Sam groaned alongside Scott.

 **"You think I'm a fool?"** _demanded Raza. He grabbed Yinsen's head and held the tongs in front of his mouth._ **"What's going on? Tell me the truth."**

"Oh my god," Wanda said, she started fiddling her fingers nervously.

 **"He's building your Jericho,"**

 **"The truth,"** _his voice rose loudly._

 **"He's building your Jericho,"**

 **"THE TRUTH!"**

 **"He's building the Jericho!"** _tried Yinsen._

 _Tony realized what they were talking about and stepped up._ **"What do you want, a delivery date?"** _he asked, all the other men shouted and lowered their weapons. Tony stopped and held up his hands._

Almost everyone sighed in relief and wiped the sweat in their foreheads.

 **"I need him,"** _Tony reasoned._

 _The coal glowed bright as Raza held it in front of Yinsen's mouth._

 **"Good assistant,"** _added Tony._

All of them held their breath again, stopping in a stiff position.

 _Raza gave him a measuring glare and dropped the coal._ **"You have till tomorrow, to assemble my missile."**

 _He threw the tongs aside, and walked out of the room, his men following him._

"What now?" Pietro questioned. Clint gave a pointed look and replied,

"What do you think? They'll try escape, of course, without the group knowing,"

* * *

 **Hey! So, I'm alive! Haha. Sorry for not updating for a long time, I'm currently in an Author's block so the next update might be for a long time. Anyway, this chapter is dedicated for "HeyItsMe7"! whose always reviewing on my story and being dedicated to my story! Thank you everyone! Always, reviews, favorites, and follows help me go further on. And, please read my other story "Epiphany and Metanoia"! Thank you! I love all of ya so much!**

 **Love, Shadow Sylpheria.**


	6. The Escape

**Maschera di Ferro**

 **06: The Escape**

"Anyway, don't think I didn't forget why Coulson is here right now, talk." Clint demands, crossing his arms as he roses a brow expectantly. Natasha nods her head in agreement and narrowed her eyes slightly as she assesses what was happening in the room. Fury sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming soon.

"Despite of what happened, I want to know how Coulson is still alive, not to offend you Phil," Steve hesitantly says and Coulson nods, accepting his answer. The majority of the room agrees and Maria replies to answer their never-ending question, "See, Coulson here is actually dead, for two minutes. The doctors thought they couldn't revive him, but something happened that caused Phil to be alive," Maria's lip quirks up.

"If he wasn't dead, why didn't you say that he wasn't dead to us," Bruce piques in as he wiped his glasses. ' _Here comes the difficult question'_ Fury thought before replying, "It was to give you guys motivation to defeat Loki over there," He points out, jutting his accusing finger to the accused smirking man. Loki merely shrugged bemusedly.

"Well, I'm not the bad guy now, aren't I." Loki says and surprises majority of the people in the room because this was the first time he actually spoke loudly. Clint glared at him and Thor boomed, "My brother is mighty correct, my friend. 'Tis I can prove it as he is already punished for his crimes, as if he is shall not, the enchanting Almira will not bring him here."

"Anyway," Fury interrupts impatiently. "Coulson was in SHIELD for two years, handling a team of agents that was sent for various missions ordered by SHIELD."

"So, why didn't we see him at SHIELD if he was working there?" Natasha asks, suspiciously and curiously at the same time.

"Well, that, you should've asked that to Tony when he was still alive." Fury glares and the light atmosphere in the room lessened down which caused the tension to arise again. Bucky stiffened noticeably and Steve shoots him a worried look. An 'o' formed in Pepper's face before she frowned, tears threatening to well up in her eyes again. Happy immediately comforted her, a fierce glare stay put in his face while Rhodey cussed under his breath, clenching his fists.

"Hey, could we get the movie started already? I know all of 'yer fighting there but we need to watch countless of movies, y'know, you agree with me right, tic tac?" Sam grins impatiently and points out to Scott, who shrugs awkwardly.

"Fine, but we won't let you get out of this, since you brought Tony into this," Natasha glared fiercely, and if glares could kill a person, Fury would be murdered right now. Peter takes the remote and presses the 'Play' button.

 _Tony continued working. He was forging the metal suit with his hammer as Yinsen looked up and settled it down. The mask was completed, with two large eyeholes and a row of smaller holes for the mouth, it is completely metal and gray, no colors of whatsoever._

Sam cheered as the others continued to clap as well. Even Wanda seemed impressed by his work, even though it is Tony Stark, it's still very impressive because he managed to do that in a cave, nonetheless.

"Go, Tony!" Rhodey grinned a genuine smile as he applaud for his best friend, finally breaking out of his stupor.

 **"Okay, can you move?"** _Yinsen asked as he helped Tony put on the breastplate and back pieces._ **"Okay, say it again."**

 **"41 steps straight ahead. Then 16 steps, that's from the door, fork right, 33 steps, turn right,"** _Tony answered with no hesitation in his voice._

"How he managed to memorize that blindfolded still impresses me every time." Darcy says in awe and sighed, "Now, now, I know all of you are superheroes and super spies, of course you can remember that." Darcy sarcastically stated when the "superheroes-in-question" raised incredulous looks at her.

"Well... even I couldn't memorize that without the help of calculations," Sam drawled out and Bruce interjected helpfully, "Tony has photographic memory, I could remember that while we were in his workshop, he recited everything in a book he read a long time ago and even started talking about his invention, which was about pages long, I almost drifted off to sleep, but he's a very good storyteller, well, was. So I fortunately listened to most of his babbling."

"Tony's like that as always." Rhodey says blandly and Pepper nods her head absently.

 _In the viewing room, Raza remained staring at the screens while his followers ran to follow his orders. He could barely see Yinsen, slightly hidden by something large._

 **"Where is Stark?!"** _He growled out as he noticed that Tony suddenly disappeared from the screens._

 **"He was here a moment ago,"** _one of his followers stated nervously._

 **"Go look for him!"** _Raza barked out loud and the man left, Raza remained staring at the screens in frustration._

 _People began banging at the door of Tony and Yinsen's workshop as they shouted profanities and yelled what seemed to be like an order._

 **"Yinsen!"** _one of the followers barked outside of the room, trying to yank the locked door quite unsuccessfully._ **"Yinsen!"**

Pepper began holding her breath again, counting numbers until Happy and Rhodey shot her worried and concerned looks, but nevertheless, stopped when Pepper smiled at them, assuring she was fine.

"Uh oh, it's starting." Peter says nervously as he rubbed his thumbs together and started chewing on his lip in anxiety.

 **"Say something! Say something to him!"** _Tony hissed out to Yinsen as he protested helplessly,_ **"He's speaking Hungarian, I-I don't speak Hungarian!"**

 **"Then speak Hungarian!"** _Tony demanded as Yinsen rushed over._

"Geez, as if you can speak another language you don't know that easily," Steve comments as Clint rolled his eyes and Rhodes sent him a sharp look, and promptly ignored him. Loki smirked, though a deep sense of worry washed over him a bit.

"With the Allspeak, Thy can understand all languages in Midgard!" Thor boasts and Loki rolled his eyes, huffing under his breath and mouthing words too fast that no one caught it. Jane's lip twitches awkwardly and pats his shoulder, trying to make him lower his voice down. Meanwhile, Jane's eye twitches in annoyance and irritation and a grimace etched in her face, but she safely decided to be silent and ignore Thor.

"Tony decided to learn almost around many languages after that. And he already knew many languages before that, but he promptly decided to learn more languages including Russian, Mongolian, Arabic, and more." Pepper drawled out.

"Well, of course you don't, but how can they start talking about it when the men outside is trying to kill them?" Hill drawled out sarcastically, arching her perfect eyebrow as Steve flustered as he looked away, Bucky's face remained blank though there's an unnoticeable twitch in his eye, but his long hair partially covered his face, so no one knew what is in his mind.

 **"Okay, I don't—"** _Yinsen said, thinking hard as he gestured pathetically._

 **"What do you know?"** _Tony encouraged as Yinsen came up with something and started shouting to the men outside the door. The same door which had been set up with an explosive booby trap once the men opened the door._

"Another plan, of course, Tony would think about everything like inventions and calculate everything that will happen." Bruce says in awe and he looked impressed, pushing up his glasses that was threatening to fall as he grinned, happy that his Science Bro will finally escape the hellhole.

 _Eventually, the men outside got tired of waiting and one of them opened the crank handle that opened as they didn't expect for it to blow up and sent the assailants flying back due to the impact of the explosion._

 _In the viewing room, one of the screens went static and buzzer before it went completely dark and silent due to the explosion._

 _Raza yelled to his men with orders, and more of his followers charged outside and down toward Tony and Yinsen's quarters. He picked up a walkie-talkie and shouted orders into it._

"And now! The war's starting!" Clint exclaimed suddenly, causing Helen to almost fall off her chair and the others jumped back in surprise and Coulson, Natasha, Laura simultaneously smacked Clint's head harshly, causing him to roll around the floor, earning a snicker from Pietro and Peter and laughter and snorts from Sam, Scott, and Happy.

"He's so noisy," Scott complains lowly under his breath but clearly Clint hears him because he shot him a nasty look, daring him to say another word before replying mockingly, "As if you aren't the noisy one, _tic tac._ "

Scott huffs in annoyance as Sam peeps in, "He's right, y'know, tic tac. We're all noisy." Sam says before proceeding to cackle, causing Wanda to smack him invisibly in his head as Pietro hid a snort. Loki roses an eyebrow in interest and amusement.

 **"How'd that work?"** _Tony asks as Yinsen replies hastily,_ **"Oh, my goodness!"** _Yinsen says as he put the last pieces of the suit._

 **"It worked alright!"**

 **"That's what I do,"** _Tony says humbly._

Thor grins a victorious grin as he continued to cheer on for his shield-brother.

 **"Let me finish this."** _Yinsen insists as Tony said,_ **"Finish it later. Initialize the power sequence."**

"Oh, yes!" Peter pumps his fist up and slowly lowered them down in embarrassment. His face reddened and Darcy resisted the urge to coo at him.

 **"Okay,"** _Yinsen replies and hastily bends over an old reused laptop._

"That laptop is older than Stevie!" Sam jokes playfully as Steve blushed faintly, hot red covering his cheeks and he coughed to hide his embarrassment. Bucky, for the first time, even resisted the urge to snort at the face of Steve.

 **"Now!"** _Tony snaps and Yinsen begs,_ **"Tell me, tell me!"** _He says as Tony recited the orders._

 **"Function eleven."** _Yinsen pressed the keys as Tony continued,_ **"Tell me when you see a progress bar. It should be right up now - talk to me, tell me when you see it—"**

 **"Yes."** _Yinsen's voice cuts off as a line of code in a progress bar appeared on the screen of the laptop._ **"Yes, I have it."**

Bruce grins widely and Clint hoots, flailing his arms around in an attempt to cheer for his friend.

 **"Press Control 'I'"** _Tony commands._

 **"'I', got it."** _Yinsen answers, pressing the keys as he stands up._ **"'I', Enter. 'I', enter, come over here and button me up."**

 **"Okay, all right."** _Yinsen says as he punched the keys quickly._

"Oh no! There's no time for it to load!" Helen exclaims in surprise, her glasses almost falling off her nose. Bruce looked on warily and Pepper began fiddling with her fingers, a nervous habit of hers.

 **"Every other hex bolt."** _Tony says._

 **"They're coming!"** _Yinsen seethed as he worked._

 **"Nothing pretty. Just get it done, just get it done."** _Tony insists._

"I'm having a bad feeling at this." Clint utters and Scott nodded in agreement. T'Challa's black eyes narrowed in assessment and Steve looks on with a weird expression on his face. Bucky turns away slightly, his fingers becoming numb and the fingers twitches as he resisted the urge to strangle someone.

 **"Now make sure the checkpoints are clear before you follow me out, okay?"** _says Tony as Yinsen took a look at the progress bar, noticing that it was only halfway through the loading process._

 **"We need more time,"** _Yinsen turns away,_ **"I'm going to buy you some time."** _Yinsen shouted, turning and running towards the door._

"NO! Don't!" Pepper wailed. An eery silence fills the air as they stared in shock and stunned at what happened. Even Phil was aghast, breathless.

 _Panic overtook Tony's face as realization dawned upon him,_ **"Stick to the plan! Stick to the plan!"** _He tried to stop Yinsen, but Yinsen already grabbed a weapon from the floor where the men were blasted earlier and fired it in the air continuously as he continued running and shouting._

"No! Come back! You would get killed!" Thor groans and Jane's eyes well up in tears of waiting of the upcoming events. Natasha's eyes darkened, having read the file about Tony before he hacked it, but she hadn't expected it to be this gruesome.

Bruce clenches his fist in an attempt to stay calm and breathed through his nose. He counted numbers before sighing a deep sigh in relief, but aggravation is seen on his face.

 **"Yinsen!"** _yelled Tony, when there was no reply from Yinsen, he turned to look at the progress bar and looked on dismayed when he noticed it was only halfway._

"No, no, no." Peter says frantically, his arms flailing around and almost hit Pietro with his spiderwebs. Rhodey pats him in the shoulder, though he also looked on murderously, looking like he was about to kill someone. Loki only looked on blankly, though a sympathetic look washed over his eyes before it was gone completely.

 _The loading bar increases slowly before with a click, a loud thud echoed throughout the workspace._

Silence. The pants of breaths were the only noise that was heard in the room.

 _The men went tearing down a corridor that lead to Yinsen and Tony's workspace. Yinsen came running after them, yelling and shouting as he fires the gun he was holding on tightly._

 _Yinsen halted when he reached the opening of a cave, for there in front of him a crowd of men, all weapons trained on him. Raza was standing in front of them._

"NO!" Steve howled in anger, and it surprised a few because this was the first time he spoke so loudly. Natasha glances at the screen sharply as her blazing eyes sharpened.

"No, no, please not him. He's a good man," Jane moaned in pain as she clutches her head.

 _In the room where the suit was, the progress bar finally filled up and the laptop beeped as the dim lights started flickering before going out all over the cave. Three men moved toward the door cautiously, guns placed in their hands, glancing around the dark workspace. One of the men looks around, faintly noticing a blue glow from the computer, fully downloaded._

 _It zooms out, and shows a hand in some sort of metal material tensing before it relaxes._

"Something's bad going to happen," Clint insists, his eyes intently watching the scene like a hawk.

"Don't you think?" Pepper says sarcastically, and Wanda's head sharply turned slightly but not noticeable, a flash of memory appears in her head, before it vaguely disappears. Wanda frowns in irritation, unconsciously projecting it but Vision was able to stop it from affecting the others in the room.

Vision phased unnoticeably before going back to normal, however, Loki's eyes sharpened in interest and bemusement at what happened. He tapped his fingers silently, muttering, "Interesting." His eyes widened visibly when he noticed the Mindstone in Vision's face, "How did he get the stone? Is he some sort of minion of Thanos?" He muttered to himself, not noticing Natasha's ears perking up but Natasha scowls, apparently not hearing what Loki said completely.

 _With a flash of blue, the man flews across the room, firing bullets helplessly as he crumples in the ground, the others shooting bullets combed the area. Another flash of reactor light, and another guy is slammed by the giant metal arm, causing him to crumple into the ground while bullets bounced off the metal suit, seemingly unaffected._

 _He swings again, smashing a man's face as he crumpled as it zoomed out to show a huge metal tank of a man. The first Iron Man suit._

"That's friend Anthony?" Thor stutters out in surprise.

"He managed to do that, in a cave, with none other but tools, unbelievable." Steve mumbled in disbelief, shaking his head helplessly.

"I didn't know that the first suit is very huge and bulky, I haven't even seen it in his workshop." Clint agrees in shock. Natasha shakes her head, "Of course you didn't, since he escaped, that suit was scrapped and thrown away, for good reasons." No one heard what she said in the last but Wanda slightly perked up in interest and curiosity, earning the curious glance of Pietro as well.

 _Tony straightened up, the metal suit wobbling slightly before he took slow baby steps as it is obviously heavy because of its bulk and huge weight, he ignored the firing of the bullets as it bounced of him aimlessly. Tony spun, slamming more people on the ground as the men fled in horror, howling as Tony follows them, they close a heavy metal door, trapping one of their own on the other side as he screams in horror, banging desperately to be let out._

 _A man's scream was heard on the other side of the door before it quietens._

"Oh god." Pepper choked out in disbelief, gasping as she looked horrified.

 _The men looked at each other, swallowing thickly while the door buckles under the hit. Just as they turned to flee, Tony broke down the door and flung them aside. His arm got stuck in a crevice of the rock as he tried desperately to get it out._

"Hell! More troubles," Peter complains but his eyes looked scared and terrified.

 _One of the men noticed Tony and ran up to him to shoot him. But the bullet merely glazed off the metal suit with such force that it hit the man back._

"Whoa, that's so awesome." Sam excitedly says as his eyes glint.

 _Tony yanked his arm free with a grunt and looks at the man with slight surprise before smashing him down, causing him to crumple as Tony stills and stalked forward._

 _The scene changes and shows Raza walking out from behind a barrier of sand, loading a rocket launcher with said rocket. He glares at the open door, already expecting Tony to walk out._

 **"Yinsen!"**

"Anthony Edward Stark! No!" Rhodey says desperately as he scrambles up, stiffening as he stared blankly at the television screen.

 **"Yinsen!"** _He continued to shout as he walked forward._

 **"Watch out!"** _Yinsen called out weakly, but Raza had already fired. Tony wheels back from the impact, nearly colliding with another rocket that could have killed him. He spun, looking at Raza with hatred before loading his metal arm with a rocket himself and firing, letting rocks tumble across down and cloud Raza with dust that he flew across with a howl and he lunges to Yinsen, dropping to his knees next to him._

 _Hastily, Tony took out piles of rice sack from the top of him._

 **"Stark,"** _panted Yinsen._

 **"Come on, we've got to go.. Move for me, come on. We got a plan, we're going to stick to it."** _Tony pleads desperately as Yinsen looks weakly at Tony._

A tear escaped Wanda's eyes subconsciously as she remembered the time her brother died, with also filled with bullet holes around his body. Pietro's fists clenches as he grits his teeth as he tried to comfort the wailing Wanda.

Pepper sobs as Rhodey hugged her, he grits his teeth in anger as he tried to escape the tears that was threatening to fall down. He wipes it as his grip on Pepper loosens before he lets in fall in his sides.

 **"This was always the plan, Stark."** _Yinsen gasps._

"WHAT?!" Clint scrambles up with furious anger filling his eyes. He muttered curses as Laura tried to stop him. Loki looks on with an apathetic look, though he wavered slightly with a look kind of pain.

"God," Vision whispers in some kind of despair, before swallowing his emotions.

"I didn't remember that being part of their plan," Jane gasps and stutters as tears flow down in her eyes. Thor nodded and carried Jane before walking out of the room, probably to comfort her, and enters again a minute after with a sobbing Jane in his arms.

"Because it wasn't!" Natasha spats in fury and sadness in the same time and Coulson and Fury looks sympathetic of what was showing.

Pepper cries harder that a tinge of orange slightly washed over her features, before being gone completely. Bucky tensed and stiffened as a look of pain crosses over his face, remembering his own memories and brainwashing. Bucky pants and sighed before speaking out, "I'm fine, Steve. I just remembered something." Bucky says to a concerned Steve as he grimaced.

Bucky lets his flesh hand go through his own hair as he shook it out of his face. Steve meanwhile looks on worriedly before biting his cheek to stop saying something that will cause more disaster in the room.

 **"Come on, you're gonna see your family. Get up."** _Tony says despairingly._

 **"My family is dead. I'm going to see them now, Stark."** _Yinsen gasps out._

Thor slumped in his chair in defeat as hurt and pain flashed over his face.

 _Tony's lip quivered and looks like he was about to say something, but failed, swallowing thickly as Yinsen leans back on the sacks of the sand._

 **"Thank you for saving me,"** _he whispers quietly, hiding the raspy tone of his voice._

 **"Don't waste it, don't waste your life."** _Yinsen says before his breath evens as he sighed, death overcoming him._

"I remembered Tony talking to himself drunk before, mumbling under his breath that he is apologizing to Yinsen for wasting his life. I didn't know who Yinsen was before, but now I understand." Pepper says, defeatedly.

"He didn't waste his life, he knows that. In fact, he saved so many lives that he sacrificed his." Rhodey rasps out in anger and sadness and Steve's face went to apologizing and guilt. The atmosphere in the room tenses as they remembered the death of Tony. Even Sam, Scott, Clint, and Wanda looked guilty because they were one of the cause that Tony died.

However what they didn't know was an invisible shadow lurking behind all of them, long blonde hair falling in lushes and emerald green eyes watching over them. The shadow's lips quirks up and smiles before the shadow completely vanishes from sight.

 _Tony's eyes glazed slightly as Yinsen lays lifeless in the cave. Tony's expression darkens significantly and he stands abruptly, hatred, anger, and rage all over his face._

"Uh oh, they're gonna be facing the demon. They should run, if they could.." Clint mutters bitterly, understanding and knowing the emotion in Tony's face.

"They'd better." Natasha abruptly says bitterly, venom lacing her words as she promised torture and death as she understood what Tony went through.

 _The scene changes and shows the terrorists waiting at the entrance of the cave, weapons and missiles pointed toward the only opening as they wipe their sweaty hands, some breathing in fear, some breathing in hesitance. The footsteps gradually drew louder and louder as Tony stands at the entrance of the cave. It is the first time they ever seen the first suit in full view. Dark silver glinted at the morning light and is bulky, heavy, huge, and enormous at size. It towered over the men of Ten Rings, its mask staring at them with no emotion at its eyeholes._

"It really looks scary." Scott commented out of the blue, eyeing the suit with awe and interest.

 _They shout in many languages as they fired, bullets rain off of Tony in a frenzy, the force pushing him back slightly a few feet before the display ends, leaving Tony standing there._

 **"My turn."** _Tony growls displeasingly, voice oddly dark with hatred and rage, but it was expected. He heaves out before lifting the metal arms of the suit as it fires countless of bullets and blows out a blast of fire, thrusting his arms around and setting anything and everything ablaze within his reach. The men screamed in horror and agony as they were one by one hit with the fire._

Wanda shivered subconsciously as she remembered the attack in Sokovia, and she's glad because the attack wasn't as huge as this, or else Sokovia was already gone.

"Go, Tony!" Clint cheered, all seriousness gone from his face as it replaced happiness and he seems ecstatic.

 _He stalks forward, letting the flame feed on everything as he walked towards the weapons, pointing the arm with the fire and shoves it towards the missiles, burning cases of wood that holds the weapons inside. Streams of fire set everything ablaze._

 _Then one of men made his way up to the station from the mountainside above Tony and began firing bullets down on him. From other relatively safe positions, other men started raining bullets over him. He staggered slightly at the force of impact and sank to his knees. The outer plates of the armor started to fall off, leaving the internal part of the suit as he lets out another blaze of fire, but then the explosives began to go off._

"Uh oh." Darcy commented.

 _In the midst of the ruins and destroying everything, Tony flips on a red switch on the under left side of the metal arm. He flies above, the jets on his feet supports him as he flew over the destroyed cave._

"It can fly too?!" Peter asks in awe and Clint gapes.

 _The jets suddenly die, and he starts falling as he flailed, landing on the sand with a grunt as he hits. Metal breaks and busted as he is buried to the chest with the sand. He groans, lifted his arms and slammed them into the sand, pulling them free and tugging the metal mask off his face. He grunts and groans again as he leans back in exhaustion, finally smiling in relief._

"Well, not really." Maria muttered but relief washes over all of their faces.

"So... he's finally free?" Steve asks hesitantly and T'Challa nods with a grin on his face. A smile slowly etches Rhodey's face as he grinned a genuine smile, happy for his best friend. Meanwhile, Pepper sighed in relief as she leans in her chair in exhaustion.

"Not yet."

 **"Not bad,"** _Tony utters and the scene changes as it shows him walking in the sand, weak and exhausted. He has a jacket over his head and is bleeding slightly. He staggered and stumbled as he walks across the dune, sand sticking to him from the swear and he nearly falls over again, arms and legs trembling._

 _Suddenly, a helicopter flies above his head and looks around with bleary eyes as he screamed,_ **"Hey!"** _He waves and flails his arms around before sinking to his knees in relief, grinning foolishly and finally laughing. He raises two fingers to signify 'peace'._

 **"How was the 'fun-vee'?"** _Rhodey jokes, running down to Tony and pulling him over a hug, blinking quickly to hold back his tears._

 **"Next time, you ride with me, okay?"**

Natasha smiled, a real genuine smile as she saw the friendship between Rhodey and Tony and knows it is true, loyal, and genuine. The others applaud in happiness and Rhodey grinned and laughed.

"How long had it been?" Clint asks in curiosity.

"Three months." Pepper cuts off firmly, though a smile breaks out in her face.

 _The US Air Force One touched down, Pepper and Happy waiting for him in the airstrip. Pepper's face were flushed as her eyes is red. It's obvious she's been crying and sobbing hard as her makeup was running all over her face._

Natasha sends her a knowing look but she rolls her eyes and flushed before mouthing, "I'm over him already. We're just best friends now."

Natasha smirks in return and turns her view towards three men— Steve, Bucky, and Loki and points them quietly in a silent conversation between them. Pepper's mouth formed an 'o' as realization dawned upon her. She almost gasp but covered it with a cough, and her eyebrows rose higher and her eyes widened as she settled for a shocked look, but decided to smirk.

 _As medical personnel neared him with a stretcher, Tony rolled his eyes and waved it off._ **"Are you kidding me with this? Get rid of that."** _He says with a dismissive gesture._

 _Pepper smiled through her tears as Tony stalked to her,_ **"Hmm,"** _he says._ **"Your eyes are red. Few tears for your long-lost boss?"**

Clint teases Pepper with a smirk but she only smirked, shaking her head.

 **"Tears of joy,"** _Pepper says bluntly._ **"I hate job hunting."**

 **"Yeah, vacation's over,"** _says Tony. The scene changes and shows Tony and Pepper in the back of his car with Happy in the driver's car._

Happy smiles proudly but says nothing.

 **"Where to, sir?"** _Happy questions._

 **"Take us to the hospital please, Happy—"** _Pepper begins but Tony cuts her off._ **"No."**

 **"No?"** _Pepper asks with eyebrows raised, turning and staring at him._

 **"No is a complete answer."** _Tony insists immovably._

Steve rolled his eyes but a smile breaks out in his face.

 **"Tony,"** _protests Pepper._ **"you have to go to the hospital, the doctor has to look at you—"**

 **"I don't have to do anything, I've been in captivity for three months,"** _Tony starts._ **"There are two thing I want to do. I want an American cheeseburger, and the other—"**

 **"That's enough of that,"** _Pepper says, turning away._

Clint laughed and Sam and Scott followed with chuckles.

 **" — is not what you think,** " _Tony taps his foot patiently._ **"I want you to call for a press conference right now."**

"I remembered my shock when he said that because he hates press conference." Pepper reminisces with a smile gracing her face.

"Well, that's because he really hates those," Rhodey replied nonchalantly.

 **"Call for a press conference?"** _Pepper asks in disbelief and surprise._ **"What on earth for?"**

 **"Hogan, drive."** _Tony orders and ignores Pepper._ **"Cheeseburger first."**

"Always food after a battle, huh?" Bruce quirks his lip at that and Darcy snorted quietly.

"Of course, his cravings always comes first." Pepper nods to herself and chuckles.

 _The scene changes and Happy pulls up to the curb, a crowd of well-dressed people were standing outside to meet him. They began to applaud as they saw the car and Obadiah Stane flung forward, arms outstretched._

Pepper immediately glared and T'Challa's eyes darkened in suspicion. Natasha started to clench her fists and relaxed it as Clint growled, seemingly angry.

 **"Look at this, eh?"** _Obadiah cried out, pulling open the car's door as Tony exits the car with the first cheeseburger on his hand and another bag as he bites. He flung his arms around the younger man's neck._ **"Oh, Tony!"** _He pulled back to look at him_. **"You didn't meet me at the hospital!"**

Sam snorted loudly that caused Wanda to giggle, causing her to unconsciously project her happiness in the room, and soon enough, some of them were chuckling while some were full-blown laughing.

 **"Nah, that's fine,"** _Tony says hastily, and escapes the man's hug and turned around to fish the second cheeseburger in the bag._

 **"Look at you!"** _Obadiah yells_. **"Oh, you have another burger?"**

 **"No I don't!"** _Tony snaps as he began to walk inside._

 **"You getting me one of those?"**

Steve began to growl, "He just escaped from captivity and you want to have the other burger?! Don't you think this is the real first edible food he eats? Such an unbelievable man," Steve mutters as Natasha shot him a look knowingly, and he flushes in embarrassment and anger. Bucky pats him in the shoulder softly.

Meanwhile, even though she's still angry, Pepper shoots him a grateful look.

 **"This is the only one left, I need it."** _Tony answers and took another large bite of his first one and continued to stalk forward._

"Serves ya right," Darcy muttered as she sneered.

 _He was still eating as he and Obadiah entered the conference room_. **"Hey, look who's here!"** _called Obadiah out, and the reporters saw him and began to applaud._

 _Tony walked his way on the podium through a crowd of eager photographers and journalists._

 _Pepper remained at the back of the room, watching Tony and obviously wondering what will happen._

 **"Ms. Potts,"** _said a familiar voice. Phil Coulson appears and stand beside Pepper._ **"May I speak to you for a moment?"**

"Is that you?" Steve asks in surprise while Coulson merely nods his head.

"It's so early and they want to debrief Tony already?" Clint took the hint and asked. Maria answered him, "Well, it is surprising that he even got out, no offense, but we have reasons to do that."

 **"I'm — I'm not part of the press conference,"** _says Pepper._ **"but it's about to begin right now."**

 **"I'm not a reporter,"** _Phil points out_. **"I'm Agent Coulson with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division."** _He offered her a small white card._

Wanda and Pietro raised eyebrows in curiosity. This is the first time they've ever heard of the full name of SHIELD and it's quite a handful.

 **"That's quite a mouthful."** _Pepper said and took the card._

"That's why we say SHIELD, duh." Maria points out.

 **"I know, we're working on it."** _Phil says._

 **"You know, we've been approached already by the DOD, the FBI, the CIA—"**

Fury scoffs, "As if they would guess what happened to Stark. Why is FBI asking them anyway?"

 **"We're a separate division with a more specific focus."** _Phil answers smoothly with the same inscrutable smile._ **"We need to debrief Mr. Stark about the circumstances of his escape,"**

 **"I'll put something in the book, shall I?"** _Pepper rhetorically asks as Coulson replied,_ **"Thank you."**

 _Just then, Obadiah's voice echoed throughout as he steps in the podium,_ **"Okay, let's go ahead and get started!"** _he says._

Clint smirked excitedly as they leaned forward, knowing the press conference will be exciting and fun.

* * *

 **Hey! I'm sorry for updating so late. See, my vacation is almost over and I've been receiving a bad case of Writers block since May. And I've been also busy updating my other story in Archive of Our Own- Red Strings. Check it out! My username is Shadow_Sylpheria. Once again, thank you for those who continue to support my story and thank you for the reviews, followers, and favorites. Reviews give me motivation! Thank you so much.**

 **I will just remind you that I might update slower than expected and it will only pop out randomly. So, I'm sorry for the inconvenience. And, I have a tumblr that I will post about my stories, check out miecyzslawsylpheria and I also have a twitter if you want to follow, but I do nothing but post about random stuff really, it's uysamantha_sju.**

 **Thank you again for the readers who read my story, well, stories. Thank you for your support! I appreciate it!**

 **Love, Shadow Sylpheria**


	7. The Trail of Success

**Maschera di Ferro**

 **07: The Trail to Success? More Like Bewilderment**

Obadiah trailed off and looked down at Tony in something akin to bewilderment, who had just sat down on the front of the podium he was supposed to stand into, nonchalantly grabbing the second burger that was in his pocket.

 **"Hey, would it be all right if everyone sat down?"** _He asked, slowing sinking into the ground while confused reporters and journalists eyed each other._ **"Why don't we just sit down? That way you can see me, and I can... a little less formal... and.."**

 _The reporters obliged and slowly sat down as Tony eyed all of them, taking a bite in his cheeseburger._

"I haven't watched that particular news, I didn't know Stark asked them to sit all down," Sam says curiously, eyeing all of the Avengers who shrugged.

"Well, what do you expect? That's Tony, it would be a miracle if something normal ever happened in his press conferences," Natasha deadpanned. Rhodey groaned and muttered, "I remember that one time. That one particular press conference that he embarrassed Tiberius Stone in live television,"

Pepper sighed in agreement and Steve hesitantly quipped in, "Who's Tiberius Stone?"

It seemed that not only Steve was confused, as other Avengers looked confused as well with the exception of Bruce, Natasha, and Vision who already knew about that bastard.

"Tiberius Stone is the CEO of Viastone, a rival company of Stark, you could say and he is a scientist. Ty and Tony were childhood friends and rivalries at the same time. They always fought and embarrass each other, with Tony always succeeding since Stone can't even embarrass or shame Tony."

"Ah..." Pietro trailed off awkwardly and Jane decided to take pity on him, pressing the 'play' button of the remote that peculiarly appeared beside her.

 **"What's up with the love-in?"** _Rhodey asks Pepper as they watched with a frown placed on their faces._

 **"Don't look at me,"** _whispered Pepper._ **"I don't know what he's up to,"**

"We really didn't," protested Rhodey who saw the incredulous looks of almost everybody.

 **"I never got to say goodbye to my dad. I never got to say goodbye to my father,"** _Tony speaks up suddenly._

Steve flinched in surprise and Bucky's eyes lowered slightly, half-lidded as they narrowed and Natasha sneakily looked at them, seeing something akin to... guilt and fear?

Natasha's emerald eyes widened unnoticeably as realization dawned upon her. She mouthed off to Steve, "You didn't tell him, did you?" Her eyes were something in like anger and sadness, her emotions mixed.

Steve shook his head in sadness and he mouthed back, "No," Natasha clenched her fists and glared at him, her eyes narrowing into slits. "Three years, Steve! Three years! That's why you killed him?! Because you didn't try say that to him?!"

Steve said nothing, only lowering down his head in shame and guilt and Natasha scoffed quietly. Loki's eyes narrowed into akin of anger as he watched the argument silently. Loki scowled but he felt sympathy for Tony, and something surprise and aghast at the revelation. The man, Bucky Barnes, they called, is the one who murdered Tony's parents? And Rogers didn't even tell him about it. Loki sneered and mumbled unnoticeably, "Surprising. The man of America actually lying? How ironic it is,"

Sadly, the other Avengers looked on gullibly and obliviously, watching the screen with focus.

"Why is Friend Anthony talking that way?" Thor asked obliviously, and Steve hid a flinch again, Natasha biting her tongue to stop herself from revealing the secret and blowing out curses. Unbeknownst to her, Bruce sharply looked at her in concern.

"We also don't know, Hammer Time." Clint shrugged and Thor decided to stay silent, though a calculating look is surprisingly on his face.

 **"There's questions that I would have asked him. I'd have asked him how he felt about what this company did - if he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts - or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels,"**

"Probably not, but we're seeing it now, right?" Peter says matter-of-factly. Seeing Steve about to protest, Bruce quipped in, "Tony told me Howard was different from what you know, Steve. But I don't want to share the secrets Tony told me, you should better know that yourself,"

"He is right. Howard Stark's personality changed 360° degrees when you disappeared in the ice, Rogers." Fury says blandly, though his eye twitched slightly. Clint winced slightly at the insult, deciding not add salt in the wound as he bit back his mouth to insult Steve as well.

" **I saw young Americans killed... by the very weapons I created to defend them, and protect them.. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability,"** _Tony's voice was clearly strained slightly as he trailed off._

Wanda flinched slightly as the memories came back up to her. Pietro lowered his head slightly as the memories rushed back into him, remembering the time he and Wanda hid beneath the beds as their parents screamed in agony. Died. Lifeless.

Seeing the hurt and pained look in the faces of the twins, Vision slightly projected out a warm feeling of happiness and Wanda smiled at him weakly, a gracious look on her face. Pietro, on the other hand, merely smiled a she felt the disastrous feelings slowly going away as it was replaced by happiness.

"This was the time he would —" Clint says but was cut off by Pepper's reply, "Yes, it is."

 _A handful of reporters' hand rose up_. **"Mr. Stark?"** _they nearly said in synchronizations._

 **"Yes, Ben?"** _Tony pointed and made a motion with his hand, gesturing for the reporter to continue._

 **"What happened over there?"** _The reporter named Ben asked with a loud voice. Tony stalled for a moment as his face turned bitter and he spoke, voice cold and frosty,_

 **"I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I have more to offer this world, than just making things that blow up—"**

"He's going to do it," Sam breathes out in surprise, excitedly leaning over and almost hitting Scott in his face.

"He will," Maria Hill nodded in agreement and leaned unnoticeably, even though she already watched the press conference a handful times, it always amused her because of the reactions of the people, and especially, Obadiah Stane.

 **"And this is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down—"** _Tony rose suddenly, reporters shouting and yelling questions, tumbling over to him as Obadiah fumbled around from the side, trying to take control of the situation._

Clint snorted bitterly as he crossed his arms, a victorious look etched on his face, "At least, finally! That old sot had nothing to do that time, huh?"

No one answered, sans from the snorts and chuckles and even Fury looked amused at the screen. His eye focusing at Obadiah.

"Trying to save his reputation and image, and job," Darcy snorted and squealed, looking amused and expectantly waiting for the upcoming scene that will obviously embarrass the bastard.

 **"- the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International until such a time as I can decided what the future of the company will be, what direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good, for this country as well."** _Tony continued, ignoring Obadiah who shoved him out of the way quite harshly, taking control of the podium, as he tried to take back what Tony said, the latter continued walking without a single regret on his face._

Natasha and Clint shared a knowing look but decided to keep it for theirselves. Meanwhile, Loki straightened up slightly with suspicion on the man, his fingers unnoticeably twitching as his face turned into something of calculating and wary.

"Yes!" Sam whooped as the others hesitantly applaud as well, a grin on Pepper and Rhodey's face as they snickered at the remembrance of Obadiah's shocked face.

"Well, he is right. We gained back the stocks we lost, and we transferred into making gadgets, and other stuffs that are relevant and necessary for everyone, such as clean energy. He even donated some clean energy to poor countries to aid them. Now, even though Tony is dead," Pepper choked out the last part but maintained her confidence in continuing her sentence, "we are planning on starting up a Medical company and hospital with advanced machines and tools, because even though Tony's not around, he left some files and documents that were sent by Friday about the planning of the development,"

"He even recommended Helen Cho in the company as the lead researcher and head doctor for the Cell Regeneration department with complete machines and advanced technologies he invented to help the company. I'll give you the contract, Helen, after this and we'll talk about it," Pepper nods her head towards Helen who looked surprised but nonetheless agreed with a grin on her face.

 **"What we should take away from this,"** _Obadiah started as he tried to destroy the loud atmosphere and trying to take over the situation._

"-Is that you're gonna be dead after this," Natasha nodded her head as she continued the sentence Obadiah was about to say. Natasha merely stared in boredom while some Avengers, who didn't knew about Avengers, raised their brows questioningly.

"-Is that your plans will absolutely go to waste." Clint quipped in cheerily before Natasha whacked him over the head, her look threatening him to say anything and he'll have his head on a plate. Clint swallowed thickly before nodding frantically, desperately avoiding Natasha's gaze.

Pepper merely rolled her eyes dismissively, "Stop it, you guys."

 **"-is that Tony's back."** _Obadiah says._

 **"And ah, he's healthier than ever. Ah, we're going to have a little internal discussion, and we'll get back to you with the follow-up,"** _Obadiah smiled but it strangely looked like a scowl._

"A follow-up alright," Pietro says sarcastically.

 _The scene changed, showing what seemed to be the Stark Industries factory, Obadiah exited out of his car with a cigar on his mouth as he approached Happy, who was standing next to the parked car._

 **"Where is he?"** _He asked Happy._

 **"He's inside,"** _Happy answered and pointed, before coming to take the segway presumably where it belonged as Obadiah climbed out. Obadiah took the cigar from his mouth, pulled out his keycard, and swiped it at the door, which beeped slightly before opening widely, giving him access. The Arc Reactor powering the factory came into view._

Darcy, Jane, and presumably others gaped out in unison at the enormous reactor shown in the screen. Bruce's glass even almost fell off as he stared in awe and fascination.

"That's one hell of a reactor," Scott admitted with awe, his eyes glinting in surprise and shock.

"Whoa, that's huge!" Steve cried out surprisingly and Fury, Coulson, and Maria nodded. "It powered the whole Stark factory and Stark industries after all,"

"How the hell did he make it that into something like 'this'?" Clint gaped out as he showed his hand from the huge reactor to a tiny thumb sticking out. T'Challa nodded in agreement, "Stark is obviously a genius and engineer. He managed to do that while in a cave."

"I didn't even asked him about it, but I'm also surprised because I only caught a glimpse of it when I was working for Stark," Natasha admitted with awe impressively hidden behind her words. Heck, even Loki seemed impressed. "He's the only mortal who can impress me like this, I admit,"

"Wait... you worked for Stark?" Wanda asked, her Sokovian accent coming into view. She didn't know that, heck, probably, the others didn't know that too. Pietro merely glazed off as he stared in fascination at the reactor. Natasha tilted her head slightly before responding dismissively, "2010. During the 'Palladium Incident'." She said it mysteriously, earning a groan from the three— Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy while Vision merely coughed, already knowing of what happened during that time. Obviously, that time was a time they don't want to explain furthermore.

Wanda looked as confused as a puppy, but decided to just wait for the second movie. It would probably show what they were talking about. Right?

 **"Well, that went well,"** _Obadiah trailed sarcastically and walked behind Tony to stand beside him._

 **"Did I just paint a big target on the back of my head?"** _Tony responded nonchalantly._

"Obviously!" Rhodey snickered.

 **"Your head?"** _Obadiah started_. **"What about my head? What do you think the over and under of the stock drop is going to be tomorrow?"**

"I didn't even think about that," Clint admitted and smacked his hand on his forehead.

"Because that's what important right now," Laura uttered sarcastically, momentarily despising the man in the screen. Her eyes narrowed scarily into a suspicious glare that could've rivaled Natasha's in any days, since they were 'friends' after all.

"Of course, all he would care about is his money," Peter sniffed sarcastically, crossing his arms as a scowl made its way onto his face.

 **"Ah, optimistically, forty points?"** _Tony guessed nonchalantly as he turned to face Obadiah._

 **"At minimum!"** _Obadiah snapped back, coming behind him again._

Bucky frowned unnoticeably. Sudden pain hit his head, but fortunately, it was not too much. He remembered something from Hydra, someone peculiarly and strangely looking like the man in the screen. But he couldn't shuffle his thoughts carefully but he remembered someone talking about the Starks that looked a whole like Obadiah Stane.

Meanwhile, Scott whistled indignantly. He calculated the stocks drop in his head and almost gaped at how much they fell down like dominoes.

"That's a huge stock drop there," Steve said.

 **"Yep."** _Tony agreed. Obadiah scowled and crossed his arms, glaring at Tony._

 **"Tony, we're a weapons manufacturer."** _Obadiah started._ **"We make weapons."**

"Not anymore!" Clint cackled loudly and clapped his hands suddenly, surprising Laura who almost dozed off by Clint's loud voice.

 **"Obie, I just don't want a body count to be our legacy."** _Tony muttered as he faced Obadiah._

"Damn right he is," Rhodey nodded in acknowledgement, while Clint shrugged.

Natasha, meanwhile, frowned, suddenly remembering the words of someone she talked to years ago. Fury's eyes, perceptively narrowed and Vision merely frowned at the current predicament, his fists unknowingly clenched at the thought.

 **"That's what we do, we're ironmongers, we make weapons,"** _Obadiah insisted._

 **"It's my name on the side of the building.** " _Tony was clearly having none of it as he snapped, his eyes subconsciously glaring holes._

"It means nothing for the man." Loki acknowledged while Thor stiffly turned to him, earning nothing more than a blank gaze.

 **"And what we do keeps the world from falling into chaos!"** _Obadiah replied back stiffly._

 **"Not based on what I saw. We're not doing a good enough job- we can do better... We're gonna do something else..."**

 **"Like what? You want us to make baby bottles?"** _Obadiah snaps back refutably._

Pietro snorted, remembering the first scene where Tony ironically said the same thing.

"That's what he said," T'Challa reminisces gleefully, but the narrow perceptive in his eyes makes it look more serious.

 **"... I think we should take another look into arc reactor technology...** " _Tony starts._

"That's a great idea to show more clean energy and eradicate polluted energy," Jane said.

"That's what we explained to him before, but he was having none of it, though I wonder why he's talking about it now." Coulson explained.

"Well, that's because he doesn't want to hand the arc reactor to dirty hands, namely SHIELD." Pepper snapped with a tone and Steve frowned. Fury glared irritatedly, but fortunately said nothing.

 **"Ah, come on!"** _Obadiah scoffs._ **"The Arc Reactor? That's a publicity stunt! Tony, come on, we built that thing to shut the hippies up!"** _Obadiah growled as he paced away, gesturing to the prototype in front of him._

"That's not what it seriously meant. It meant saving sir's life." Vision said quietly, although almost everyone heard him.

 **"It. Works."** _Tony says almost irritatedly._

 **"Yeah, as a science project!"** _Obadiah growled as he paced around Tony again_. **"The arc was never cost-effective, we knew that before we built it,"** _Obadiah looked up._ **"Arc Reactor technology. That's a dead end, right?"**

"I'm getting sick of this guy. Fast." Clint glared holes through the screen as he crossed his arms.

"You're not the only one," Peter, Sam, Natasha, and Steve almost said in unison, scaring the hell out of Clint and Scott.

"He seems like a madman." Loki muttered his agreement and Thor said, "He looks like someone who can kill you in three seconds."

 **"Maybe,"** _Tony said cryptically as a smirk comes in his face and Obadiah scowled, pacing around continuously._

 **"Am I right? We haven't had a breakthrough in that in what?"** _Obadiah pressed._

 **"Thirty years."**

 **"That's what they'd say."** _Tony stared at Obadiah, who was rather looking impatient, clearly excited to see the invention planted in Tony's chest, by the way he kept glancing at it longingly, even though he tried to look innocent._

 **"Could you have a lousier poker face?"**

Sam snorted.

 **"Just tell me, who told you?"** _Tony asked._

Pepper suddenly turned to glare at Rhodey, but even though it was playfully, Rhodey raised his hands in surrender.

 **"Never mind who told me, show me-."** _Obadiah urged but he got cut off._

 **"Rhodey. Rhodey or Pepper, it's Rhodey or Pepper."** _Tony insists._

 **"I want to see it."** _repeated Obadiah._

 **"Okay, Rhodey."** _said Tony, unbuttoning his shirt._

"How did he even know it was Rhodey?" Bruce quipped in amusedly.

"Well, from what sir had drunkenly said years ago, Ms. Potts would never betray his trust like that to Obadiah." Vision repeated while Pepper flustered.

"Ah."

 _Obadiah looked around, as if to make sure no one was watching as Tony unbuttoned his shirt. There sat the Arc Reactor, glowing as bright blue as its predecessor._

Almost everyone was in awe at the reactor, even though they had seen it many times in Tony's chest, they still couldn't take their eyes off it.

 _Obadiah gave it one longing look, shook his head, and frantically began buttoning Tony's shirt up again_. **"Okay, ah, okay."** _Obadiah said, glancing around again nervously._

"He must realized that Stark wouldn't give it to him easily. It's hard to change his mind from anything at all." Maria muttered under her breath.

 **"It works,"**

 _Obadiah gave him a contemplating look. Then he put his arm around Tony's shoulders and leaned in toward his face._

 **"Listen to me, Tony, we're a team, you understand? There's nothing we can't do if we stick together. Like your father and I. Tony -"** _Tony seemed to be annoyed by what he said._

"Ooh, that's not gonna turn out well." Peter commented snidely while some snorted.

"Don't 'ya think?" Rhodey muttered under his breath, scoffing at the man.

 **"I'm sorry I didn't give you a heads-up, okay? but if I had, we -"**

"He's not sorry at all." Happy mumbled.

 **"Tony, Tony, no more of this ready, fire, aim business, you understand -"** _As Obadiah was about to finish, leaning closer to Tony who turned his head away, he gets cut off._

 **"That was dad's line,"** _Tony muttered blankly, and grinned up to Obadiah that hadn't reached his eyes._

"Wait, what?" Steve suddenly straightened up in surprise while Bucky rolled his eyes visibly, but no one noticed. Natasha also straightened up, and Clint cringed at the look of blank (but murderous) look on Natasha's face. Pepper stretched her back and said with a flat tone,

"Steve, the Howard you know and the Howard that Tony knows is very different. When you disappeared, he neglected Tony for almost all of his life and spent up his years hoping to find you in the ice, that's why Tony had a rough life and his mother don't even much cared for him that much, leaving him all alone to spend galas and parties. So you shouldn't compare Tony to Howard because Howard is pretty much a dip shit bastard that had a bigger ego than that of Tony."

Rhodey voiced out in agreement and took the urge to laugh at Steve's full-blown shocked face. Hell, even some of the Avengers looked surprised, Wanda looked the most horrified.

 **"You've got to let me handle this,** " _Obadiah said as he removed his arm from Tony while they walked away._

 **"We're going to have to play a whole different kind of ball now. We're going to have to take a of heat, and I want you to promise me that you're going to lay low."**

"Blurgh." Peter pretended to gag as he flailed his hands all over, almost hitting Maria in the nose and almost shooting out the webs in his hands. He looked sheepishly at the flat look on Maria and shyly hid away.

 _The scene changed and oddly showed an episode of Mad Money, a show that pretty much criticizes billionaires and companies._

"Oh god." Clint groaned out loud, with a nod of agreement from the rest of the Avengers. Even Pepper and Fury looked pretty much irritated.

"Oh, don't tell me we have to watch this shit!" Clint grumbled and even Steve seemed annoyed that he forgot to reprimand Clint's use of language.

 **"Stark Industries,"** _the host said dramatically, jabbing his finger at the camera._

 **"I've got one recommendation. Ready? Ready?"** _He pressed a button on something that said "Sell-sell-sell!"_

 _He turned around to face the camera._ **"Abandon ship! Does the Hindenburg ring any bells?"**

Sam groaned out loud, causing Loki to almost scoff at the screen. He crossed his arms and settled for a blank look.

"Why are we even watching this foolishness?" Thor sighed, ruffling his brows in confusion.

 _On a chair from Tony's Malibu mansion, Pepper sat watching the show. She sighed in annoyance as an obvious movie-scream from the TV along with a fake crash._

"It really irate me to watch this for the second time," Pepper said absently.

 **"So here's the new Stark Industries business plan!"** _the host exclaimed, picked up a baseball bat and slammed a coffee mug to pieces._

"I'm glad that we never watched that, eh, right, Wanda?" Pietro nudged Wanda, who nodded blankly, staring at the screen with a contemplative look on her face.

 **"Look! That's a weapons company that doesn't make weapons!"** _And there came some sound effects of gun noises you can hear from video games._

 **"Pepper,"** _Tony's voice suddenly came into view from the StarkPad, startling Pepper who was focused on the screen_. **"Um, how big are your hands?"**

"What?!" Everyone choked on scandalized surprised laughter, excluding Pepper, Happy, Vision, and Rhodey. Clint wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, causing Natasha to roll her eyes while Laura smacked him in the head to shut him quiet. Even Loki seemed surprised.

"You didn't tell me something happened between the two of you, huh." Natasha teased the red-faced Pepper.

"Eh, are they going to show something like that." Sam said nervously, even though he's quite a pervert (as if he would admit that), he wouldn't want to see something like invading someone's privacy.

"Guys! Stop it! It's nothing of sort like that!" Pepper protested loudly, causing everyone to quiet down, except from Darcy who rose an eyebrow and muttered underneath her breath, "Uh huh."

 _She turned down the volume of the TV and punched the icon that indicated Tony's 'call.'_ **"Uh, what?!"**

 **"How big are your hands?"** _Tony's voice repeated._

 _Pepper blinked in confusion_. **"I don't understand...why..."**

 **"Get down here, I need you,"** _said Tony._

Clint wiggled his eyebrows again, but fortunately, no one said a word, too indulged in the screen to comment something.

 _Pepper walked down towards Tony's workshop and a shirtless Tony was shown reclining on a chair next to a rather huge creepy-looking monitor, to which he was connected into cords. He was holding another Arc Reactor that looked slightly different from the one he was currently using._

"... Oh." Steve nodded in apprehension but a look of disdain covered his face. Natasha scrunched up her nose in disgust while Clint sniffed.

"That's much worse seeing in real life. But I wouldn't mind trading this to another." Clint grinned while Laura sighed, deciding to ignore him for her benefit.

"You're so disgusting." Darcy huffed and rose an eyebrow. Loki seemed amused by the current predicaments, but he also was surprised by the Arc Reactor. It was the first time he'd seen it after all.

"I know. It keeps me awake at night." Clint answered rhetorically with a maniacal grin.

"Ew. Stop quoting Teen Wolf, you're too addicted to that." Natasha murmured but Clint merely stuck his tongue out, Pietro chuckled softly and even Wanda had a smile on her face, but she was also wondering, what the hell is Teen Wolf?

 **"Hey."** _Tony greeted as Pepper entered the workshop hastily. When Pepper saw the current predicament, she hesitated slightly before approaching the man slowly._

"Definitely worse." Peter nodded in acknowledgement with an unreadable face.

"Wait... what are you even supposed to do?" Bruce hesitated, having a clue to what will happen, but Pepper merely smirked at him, causing more distress.

 **"Let's see them, show me your hands. Let me see 'em,"** _Tony said as Pepper approached him, her hands lifting while she walked._

 **"Oh, wow, they are small. Very petite, indeed. I just, uh, need your help for a sec -"** _he looked down distractedly and gestured the Arc Reactor he was holding._

"Wow. This is the first time I've ever seen Stark ask for help." Steve muttered under his breath, unknowingly saying the same thing as Rhodey, just with, "Oh yeah, 'tis a situation. Anthony Edward Stark actually asked for help."

 **"Oh, my God. Is that the thing that's keeping you alive?"** _breathed Pepper in surprise as she caught sight of the Arc Reactor that was keeping Tony alive._

"I didn't expect it to be so huge, it's bigger than I thought." Scott whispered with awe in his voice.

 **"It was, it is now an antique. This -"** _he gestured the Arc Reactor in his hand._ **"Is what will be keeping me alive for the forseeable future. And I'm swapping it out for an upgraded unit, and I just ran into a little speed bump."**

 **"Speed bump? What do you - What do you mean?"** _asked Pepper with concern._

"Not good." Scott sing-songed, Natasha rolled her eyes and brushed off her auburn hair out of her shoulder.

 **"Nothing, just a little snag. There's an exposed wire under this device -"** _His hand reached down and clicked the first Arc Reactor, sliding it out of what they now see as its metal casting._ **"- that's contacting the socket wall and it's causing a little bit of a short - it's -"** _He jerked out the Arc Reactor, disconnecting the short cable at the back of the socket wall with a snap and a buzz._

Bucky frowned unnoticeably while the others became startled by the sound. Even Loki looked in interest at the fully capable-running Reactor that was in Tony's body.

"God, can't he be more quick?" Bruce muttered sarcastically while Clint breathed out loudly through his nose.

 **"Fine,"** _Tony ended, handing Pepper the Reactor. Pepper looked quite horrified but managed to stutter out_ , **"Wh-what do you want me to do?"** _questioned Pepper._

 **"Put that on the table over there, that, is irrelevant."**

 **"Oh, my God,"** _Pepper groaned out before turning her back to Tony._

 **"I just want you to reach in, and you're just going to gently lift the wire out -"**

"Eww." Darcy said with disgust, her nose scrunched up while her glasses almost fell out.

"Gah!" Clint shuddered in disgust.

 **"Is it safe?"** _Pepper asked anxiously, peeking down the socket wall and up to Tony's face._

 **"Yeah, it should be fine, it's just like Operation , you just don't let it touch the socket wall -"** _he indicated the sides of the hole._ **"- and it goes beep -"**

"I didn't expect him to compare something so dangerous terribly to Operation." Sam muttered amusedly while Laura shook her head, mumbling, "I really hated that game."

 **"What do you mean, Operation?"**

 **"It's just a game, never mind, just gently lift the wire. Okay? Great."** _Tony said carefully. He shot her a careful look that indicated he was probably also nervous._

 **"Okay,"** _Pepper anxiously and slowly lowered her fingers into the socket._

 _Pepper cringed and pulled her hand out._ **"You know, I don't think I'm qualified to do this -"**

 **"No, you're fine, you are the most capable, qualified, trustworthy person I've ever met."** _He said reassuringly while carefully looking over her anxious face._ **"You're going to do great."**

"Aww." Scott singsonged but he didn't noticed the replaced frown in Steve's face nor Loki's unamused face. However, Pepper, seeing the commotion, mentally cackled to herself.

 _Pepper just looked more worried._

 **"Is it too much of a problem to ask? Because I really need your help here -"**

 **"Okay, okay,"** _Pepper took a deep breath and prepared to lower her hand into the socket again._

 _There was a sucking sound of some liquid._

Wanda gagged a bit as she heard the suckling sound while the others looked green in disgust.

 _Pepper was grimacing and wincing_. **"Oh, there's pus!"** _she whined._

 **"Pus?!"** _Jane and Bruce cried out in alarm in synchronization._

 **"It's not pus,"** _Tony reminded_. **"It's an inorganic plasmic discharge, it's from the device, not from my body -"** _His back arched, as Pepper seemed to have got to the bottom of the socket._

 **"It smells!"** _Pepper wailed loudly._

 _Almost everyone felt nauseous by the extreme description of the film._

 **"Yeah, it does,"** _said Tony as Pepper's hand began moving and twisting_. **"The copper wire. The copper wire, you got it?"**

"Oh yeah, I forgot about the copper wire." Pietro said.

 **"Okay, I got it, I got it,"** _gasped Pepper, they heard her hand closing around something and then beginning to lift._

 **"Okay - you got it? Now don't let it touch the s-"**

 _NIZZZZ!_

"AH!" Almost everyone squeaked in surprise, Thor jumped up in surprise while Loki visibly twitched by the unfamiliar sound.

 **"-IDES, ides - when you're coming up, that's what I was trying to tell you before -** " _Tony yelped out in pain, trying to even out his words._

 **"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,"** _Pepper finished, directing the wire away from the metal sides as she lifted it out._

"Finally!" Peter breathed out. Fury managed to look unimpressed but Coulson and Maria looked glad.

 **"- now just make sure that when you pull it out that you don't pull out the magnet -"**

 _A circle-shaped magnet came out of the socket, showing a dropping clear and slimy substance._

"Yuck!" Sam said, grossed out while Darcy shouted at the same time, "At last it came out!"

 _The monitor began beeping madly._

 **"- at the e-end of it - that was it,"** _said Tony_. **"You just pulled it out - okay, I was not expecting that,"**

"Why can't this stop anymore?!" Wanda wailed. Even Pietro whimpered a little.

"Don't worry about him, he's fine." Natasha says cheekily.

"I can't watch this. _I can't watch Tony die again._ " Steve said, but fortunately, no one heard the last sentence he said except for Bucky, whose ears perked up tensely, trying to hear what Steve said. Bucky's lip twitch a little, trying to form a smile while hesitantly debating whether he will comfort Tony or not.

 **"Oh God, okay, what do I do, what do I -"**

 **"Don't put it back in, don't put it back in!"** _Tony exclaimed sharply suddenly as her hand began to lower toward the cavity in his chest. She hastily put it down beside the first Arc Reactor and turned back around._ **"What's wrong?"** _she asked hesitantly, seeing the fast beeping of the heart monitor and the lines on Tony's face._

 **"Oh, nothing, I'm just going into cardiac arrest because you yanked it out like a tout,"**

"What?! Heart attack?!" Steve yelped suddenly, getting the attention of most of the occupants of the room. He flushed, before lowering down to his chair, slumping and muttering under his breath something that sounds like a player.

 **"What?! I thought you said this was safe!"** _wailed Pepper._

"Note to everybody: If Tony says anything is perfectly safe, it's the opposite of it." Rhodey warned to everybody, with some snorting at the thought.

"Of course that's true." Fury acknowledged with a nod.

 **"We've got to hurry,"** _Tony handed her the other Arc Reactor._ **"Take this, take this, we gotta switch it out really quick. . ."**

 _Pepper hastily took the Arc Reactor_. **"Tony - Tony,"** _she said_. **"It's gonna be okay -"**

"Oh god, for the sake of Stark, just put it in." Maria Hill hissed while Pepper managed to look sheepish but quickly defended herself with a light blush on her cheeks, "I didn't know what to do, okay? Imagine yourself doing that in panic. Ugh."

"Point." Clint grumbled with his index finger wagging in front of Hill, who narrowed her eyes at him, causing him to shut up.

 **"Is it?"**

 **"I - I'm going to make this okay,"** _Pepper tried to comfort Tony._

"DO IT!" Almost everyone yelled in panic.

"Give her some credit, you can't easily do that to someone, it would make you pee in your pants." Bruce defended Pepper, while she sent a grateful look at him, he merely smiled back.

 **"Let's hope. Okay, you're going to attach that to the base plate, and make sure you -"**

 _The cable connected with another snap_

 **"YEOOOW!"**

"Finally, it's over." Steve puffed, wiping a sweat that threatened to fall in his eyes. Everyone looked relieved, exhaling the deep breaths they subconsciously took during that particular scene.

 _As the beeping subsided and Pepper let the new Arc Reactor down into the socket, he took it from her_. **"I got it, I got it,** " _Tony said and clicked it in with a shut **.**_ **"Nice."**

 _Pepper stood with wide eyes and soggy hands, slouching down in relief_. **"Are you okay?"**

 **"I feel great, are you okay?"**

 _Pepper groaned, and Tony burst out laughing maniacally, a lopsided grin coming to his face._

 **"Don't ever, ever, ever ask me to do anything like that, ever again,"**

"Ha!" Clint cackled maniacally, clapping his hands like a seal.

 **"I don't have anyone but you,"** _Tony spoke up suddenly, his eyes looking up to Pepper showing his genuine sincerity._

 _Pepper gazed back at him for a moment._

"Aw!" Scott repeated, Steve frowned with his eyes drooping, while Loki looked uncomfortably upset but his face kept blank.

 **"Anyway,"** _he said, and he sat up and pulled off the monitor wires and walked out of the chair. Pepper quietly wiped her hands._

 **"What do you want me to do with this?"** _Pepper questioned, picking up the old Arc Reactor._

 **"That?"** _said Tony dismissively._

 **"Destroy it. Incinerate it."**

 **"You don't want to keep it?"**

 **"Pepper, I've been called many things. Nostalgic is not one of them."** _Tony repeated like a mantra, shooting a look to Pepper while tapping the unit._

"I don't unexpectedly agree with that." Bruce uttered under his breath.

 **"Will that be all, Mr. Stark?"**

 **"That will be all, Ms. Potts,"**

 _And he turned to one of his robots, who had actually been hovering over him all the time he'd been sitting in the chair._ **"Hey, Butterfingers,"** _Pepper turned and walked away, still clutching the Arc Reactor. The bot followed his hand._ **"What's all this stuff doing on top of my desk? That's my phone, that's a picture of me and my dad - right there, in the garbage."**

Clint clapped his hands loudly, almost hitting Laura beside him. "Alright, that's it! I'm hungry, can we go check the other rooms and doors first? I'm really hungry, hello, is there any kitchen in here? My stomach's rumbling already... oh god, I'm craving for fried chicken with tartar sauce, disgusting I know, but what the hell, I don't care, I need fried chicken, tartar sauce, pasta alfredo, and a yummy carrot with banana juice..."

He kept on rambling, the others promptly ignored him, walking out of the room by theirselves, even Laura left him with a pitying look to spare.

"— then braised stew, ribs.. Wait, hey! Where's everybody?!"

* * *

 **Hello everyone! I'm sorry for the super latteeeeeeeee update. I know I know, some of you might be angry at me, but I'm really sorry. These days, I just feel too lazy and tired and I just started school again, first day really sucks, homework is dreading, I know everyone can relate. I'm sorry. I was supposed to update on JUNE 19, but due to circumstances, my update was delayed to JUNE 24. I'm really sorry. I just update randomly really, because I have another story to spare. Well, my update schedule is really quite messed up, but I think I can update once or twice or even every weekends, i'm not sure yet. But thank you for supporting my story, I really love the reviews, also the favorites and follows! I want to thank everyone through PM, but my internet is too slow, so sometimes I can't update or PM anyone easily.**

 **... But I love PM-ing to someone during weekends, though! Don't be shy, you can message me any time you want, I will try to answer your messages. Thank you once again!**

 **Please read my other story, it's in AO3, you can check it out on the username 'Shadow_Sylpheria', it's your choice though. Thanks and sorry once again, I'll make sure to update once in a while. I will never EVER abandon my stories.**

 **P.S. Hint for my lovely readers, Tony will be appearing next chapter, yey!**

 **Love, Shadow Sylpheria**


	8. Author's Note: Not Abandoning

Greetings everyone, it is formerly Shadow Sylpheria. Ihate doing author's notes seriously as it will get readers anticipated but I needed to do this to make everyone aware. As you can see, I haven't updated for almost a year now. I truly apologize, I was too busy and caught up with school and family that it caused my works from fanfiction sites be abandoned. However, this took a long time of decision, I will not abandon my stories. I may not have updated my story here for a very long time, I've decided to either move it to archiveofourown (because of copyright issues) and basically revamp the whole story, starting from post-Civil War and I will add a lot of characters to the mix. Don't worry, I'll post the new version here and I've decided to not post any stories unless I revamped the story and has at least a couple of chapters. The other reason why I didn't update my story is because I am currently rewriting the stories and I have at least a lot of chapters now in tow. Don't worry, I swear, I will post the new version as soon as possible, probably this April or May, I promise. I truly apologize for making you wait too far, I understand what you feel because I do get anticipating too when a fanfic is abandoned for a long time. I'm sorry and I hope everyone can understand. I will post the new version this April or May, thank you for understanding.


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